The Best Days Of My Life
by TheBlueVampireQueenofAbiland
Summary: Sequel to Warmhearted Wraith. Which I haven't put back up yet. But I'll get to it! So till then, if you need a summary just PM me about it.
1. Chapter 1

The best day of Danielle Fenton/Phantom's life began when her cousin/genetic original kidnapped her, dragged her to his hometown, and placed her under house arrest.

. . .maybe there could stand to be an explanation. Danielle certainly wanted one when Danny Phantom collided with her fifty feet over the streets of Rome and gave her the biggest hug in the history of the world.

It had started out normal. Dani had flown through the night to get out of Amity Park, and had drifted on the air currents until she found herself in unfamiliar territory. She'd touched down on new earth and invoked the change to human in an alley. She stepped out and watched with wide eyes as a crowd of strangers thronged around her. Dani smiled, remembering something she'd read or heard somewhere.

_No strangers, just strange friends_.

Dani then walked up to the first person she could find, a girl about ten years older than her in a bright blue dress.

"Can you tell me where I am?" She asked, grinning. The girl didn't even bat an eye at the odd question.

"Home." She said, and walked off waving. Dani waved back. _I love the human race._ She thought. _The oddest question ever and she just waves it away. Good on you, kid!_

Dani walked through the street, her natural exuberance demanding that she put a spring in her step. Music drifted through a shop window, and Dani smiled as she recognized the words. She sang along and danced as she did so.

"Feel the rain on your skin! No one else can feel it for you, only you can let it in! No one else, no one else, can speak the words on your lips! Drench yourself in words unspoken! Leave your life with arms wide open! Today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten! I break tradition, sometimes my tries are outside the lines. We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way! Uh, uh. . ."

Dani felt like flying, so she let the white rings of light wash over her. No one even blinked. When she took off from the street, she'd never felt so happy. She glanced up and saw the giant billboard. It had a picture of her face, smiling and carefree, and the giant words, _Amity Park, Dani Phantom's home._

. . . and then Dani woke up in the hotel room she'd rented in Vlad's name. She blinked sleepily and glanced out the window, sunlight dripping through like thick syrup. She sighed and stood, changing into her ghostly self and floating out the window. The dream had gone, leaving nothing but a hole in her heart.

And then a black and white blur hit her and pulled her into a lung-bursting hug.

"Danny! Can't! Breathe!" Dani gasped. Danny let go of her and she began to drop towards the hard tar below her. He quickly grabbed her white boot and started dragging her through the air. No matter what she said, she couldn't get a word through the thick wind that was forcing it's way into her mouth. In about five minuets she was being carried over Amity Park, even though it had taken her about twelve hours to fly to Rome all by herself. Either Danny was incredibly and oddly determined, or he was having a sugar rush.

Dani realized they were slowing down right over Fentonworks. She had a few bad memories about this place, in fact it was the reason she'd left in the first place. It wasn't the bad memories that made her want to leave- she'd had plenty of those everywhere- it was the fact that she really, really wished that Danny's family could be _her_ family. She'd seen a lot more of them than Danny thought, not exactly _spying_ but definitely watching. Danny had the most amazing parents and a loving older sister. Danielle had always wanted an older sister, and parents would be a dream come true. Still, she knew she had about as much of a chance of finding a family just like Danny's as Vlad did of marrying Maddy. As they lost altitude she began panicking.

"Danny! What are you _doing_? Let me go!" She cried. Danny just tossed her into the air, catching her around the waist as gravity pulled her down again. He dropped onto the ground and she began squirming as she saw the Fentons exiting the building. She could hear the grin in Danny's voice as he began talking.

"Well? Ask her already!" He said. Maddy shifted uncomfortably.

"Listen, Danielle, I know you probably hate us, but we were wondering if we could adopt you." She said. Danielle froze. What? What did she say?

"Uh. . . what?" Dani asked. Maddy looked away.

"Sorry, I kinda figured the answer would be no. . ." She murmured. Dani cut off any further nonsense by racing up to her and tackling her in a hug bigger than the one that Danny had given her.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" She shrieked. Suddenly Jack was there, and then Jazz, and finally Danny joined in as Fenton. _This is so much better than any dream_, Dani thought. For a few moments everything was perfect.

Then the legal battle of the century began. The battle of Dani Phantom.


	2. Chapter 2

**BVQA:** Well, people, that was fun!

**Dani:** Help! She's impersonating me!

**BVQA:** Shush. Some of us are enjoying this.

**Dani:** I hope you get _arrested_, you twisted fiend! You didn't even have the decency to include a disclaimer!

**BVQA:** I know. As of now, I no longer do disclaimers for this story. I'm just going to wait until I get arrested and they throw me in a padded cell. Then I can meet all the other crazy people!

There were miles and miles of red tape. In her darker moods, Dani thought that if she flew for her whole existence she would never get to the end of it. It turned out that, legally, she was an enigma inside of a conundrum. She had long, _long_ hours of people telling her just that.

First of all, she didn't exist. Well, she _did_, but _legally_ she didn't, and that's all the courtroom cared about. She had no birth certificate, no medical forms, no _nothing_. Apparently, the fact that she was standing in the same room as the knucklehead lawyers wasn't enough for them to accept that she was real. What did she have to do, stand on her head? Roll over? Go ghost?

Actually, the half-ghost bit was complicating matters too. The government was still goofing off with the mountain of paperwork that allowed ghosts to still be related to living families, and Dani was neither alive or dead. In her humble opinion, that meant she should be exempt from all laws and have her own set of rules, but apparently no one shared her view.

Another annoying thing: Vlad was trying to gain custody of her. Dani would actually rather kill herself than live with the fruitloop, something she was planning on saying in a loud tone of voice at the court that afternoon. Whether or not that would get her locked up in a padded cell somewhere where they put suicide attempters remained to be seen.

Yet _another_ annoying thing: Vlad was completely off the hook for child abuse simply because Dani did not fully qualify as a child. The clone thing was coming back to bite her, especially since her genetics were just the _slightest_ bit different from Danny's. The court had yet to come up with laws about clones (of corse) and Dani was definitely a far cry from what they'd been expecting. According to them, any clone would be considered the child of the genetic original. Sadly, Danny was not old enough to be her father (or sad to _them_ anyway), and Dani was not young enough to be his child (although technically she'd only existed for a few months). Danny also couldn't show up in court or he'd probably be thrown in jail for all the bank robberies he hadn't exactly committed. Apparently, the closest thing you could plead to 'an evil madman was controlling me with his magic staff' was 'temporary insanity'. That wasn't quite good enough.

Dani was brought back to the present by the bickering of Sam and Tucker. They were the ones the Fentons had chosen to act as joint lawyers, Sam because of her extensive knowledge of ecto-law and Tucker for his amazing tech skills. Everyone was absolutely certain that together, they could and would bring Dani home for good. Not that they were doing so good in the courtroom. They had practically been laughed out because of their age, and that was what the fight was about.

"I cannot believe that they wouldn't listen to us!" Sam raged. "Tucker even had a degree for this!"

Tucker sighed. "Yeah, but I used an online hack from a video game to change my age to get that."

"It doesn't matter!" Sam snapped.

Dani sighed and glanced around. Danny (as Phantom) suddenly became visible with a stunned look on his face. "Video game. . . what do you do in a video game if you're stuck on a level?" He murmured, looking thoughtful, then flew off into the sky.

"Where's that clown going?" Sam grouched.

"He said something about video games." Dani said. Sam rolled her eyes and went off on a tirade about 'boys'.

LINE BREAK OF LEGALESE

Dani sat in court, glaring at a knot of wood in the table. The grown-ups could be so _stupid_ sometimes. She was a kid, she needed a home, she wanted to go with the _Fentons_, not Vlad. What was so hard about this?

"I'm sorry, but my client has right to the child as it was he who engineered the construction of the girl in the first place." Vlad's lawyer said. Dani glanced up for two seconds, long enough to nick-name the man 'sharp-suit', and then went back to glaring. Vlad's plan seemed to be to de-humanize her, make her into a 'thing', while at the same time acting as if he was doing his best to take care of her. It was, annoyingly, working. She hadn't even been called up to the stand yet.

Dani pulled out her ipod- a gift from Danny- and took a long look at it before turning on. It was black with the DP symbol on the front- or back, depending on how you looked at it- with typical white earbuds. It was pretty cool. She glanced at the song list and selected a song before cranking the volume.

"Sometimes I get so weird, I even freak myself out. I laugh myself to sleep. It's my lullaby. Sometimes I drive so fast just to feel the danger. I wanna scream. It makes me feel alive. . ."

Dani hummed along with the song. Something attempted to penetrate her eardrums but she ignored it, knowing that if she had to deal with any more ridiculousness she'd probably scream. And she had a _loud_ scream.

Suddenly the earbuds were yanked from her ears none too gently. She glanced up to see a burly security guard glaring down at her.

"Mayor Masters has requested that you be restrained for everyone's safety." He stated in a voice like a rock gargling gravel chunks.

"Yeah? Well, Mayor Masters is a fruitloop. So buzz off." She said, snatching the earbuds and phasing them through his hand and back into her ears. She turned intangible whenever he tried to grab them back. She quickly muted the volume so she could hear his annoyed mutterings.

"You're a clone and you do things without rational thought!"

Dani smiled and unmuted the volume so she could sing along. "I'd rather be anything but ordinary, please!"

Then all heck broke loose in the courtroom, and for once it wasn't Dani's fault.

**BVQA:** Well? Worried now? Huh? Oh, yeah, and do you forgive me yet Dani?

**Dani:** Ok, I forgive you. You gave me an ipod.

**BVQA:** Yes!


	3. Chapter 3

**BVQA:** I have nothing to say. Carry on!

Dani stared as a large amount of burly men dressed in black suits muscled their way in. She could just make out the writing on their backs, _secret security_. Dani's eyes widened as a voice drifting from an invisible mouth laughed at the expression on Vlad's face. No way. . . Danny wouldn't. . .

Dani smiled. Who was she kidding? Danny _so_ would.

Five minutes later, Dani was swept out of the room by her brand-new parents. She only stayed long enough to stick her tongue out at Vlad and thumb her nose at the stupid guard who'd tried to 'restrain' her before letting the doors close behind her. She smiled as her ipod switched to a new song.

_We're going at it tonight. Tonight, there's a party on the rooftop top of the world. Tonight, tonight, and were dancing on the edge of the Hollywood sign. I don't know if I'll make it, but watch how good I'll fake it. It's all right, all right, tonight, tonight!_

Her mood picked up to an all-new hight.

LINE BREAK THIS IS WHAT DANNY DID

President Hartman stared at the paperwork on his desk. It seemed more daunting every second. Anything he did was equally embraced and glared at, and he was incredibly tired of it. He tugged a paper from the pile and glanced at it, scanning the title.

_Ecto-laws_, it read. _Should Danny Phantom be classified as a threat or an ally?_

President Hartman sighed. Danny Phantom was a source of incredible controversy. Some claimed he was the devil sent to earth, and some worshiped the very ground he stood on. . . or, floated above. He was probably the only person in the United States with a harder job than his, and he was. . . well, a kid. A fourteen-year-old at that. The roller-coaster of puberty _had_ to be a million times harder when you were dead, with the power to wipe out a city when you were in a bad mood.

President Hartman was jolted out of his thoughts as the door to his office was flung open.

"Sir, someone wants to see you." The disgruntled man said.

"Do they have an appointment?" President Hartman asked.

"Well. . . no, but something tells me that you'll want to talk to him."

"Even kings and queens need an appointment. Who on earth could this person be that he doesn't?"

"Danny Phantom."

About three minutes later, the ghost boy of Amity Park was standing in the middle of the office, looking around in a way that said he was only slightly impressed. Then he seemed to notice the fifty Secret Service men lining the corners of the room. In typical teenager fashion, he rolled his eyes.

"Gee, why is it that every room I ever walk into has a gajillion armed men in it? You know, unless those bazookas shoot plasma rays, they aren't going to do much." Phantom said.

President Hartman took a deep breath. "Why are you here?" He asked. "I thought you lived in Amity Park." Immediately after uttering the 'L' word, President Hartman realized that that might not have been the best word to use. "Sorry, I meant. . ." Phantom waved away his apologies.

"You know, contrary to popular belief, not every phrase that includes the word 'live' offends me. I don't freak out when people forget that I'm not. . . all here. And I still refer to an end to my existence as 'dying'. Can you think of a better word?"

President Hartman shook his head. "Why are you here?"

Phantom brushed the pale hair away from his face. "Right. Sorry, got off-topic. Um, this might sound odd, but my half-human female clone is currently battling for legal custody back in Amity Park, and the person she's battling against is the same fruitloop who repeatedly tried to melt her into a puddle of ectoplasmic goo."

President Hartman's mind temporarily froze up. "Yeah, that _does_ sound odd." He said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, currently the court is leaning towards the fruitloop getting custody, and I was kinda panicking until my friend mentioned the fact that the whole court system is a lot like a video game. That made me think of what you did if you were stuck on a level in a video game."

President Hartman raised his eyebrows. "What _do_ you do?"

Phantom grinned. "Use a cheat code. Guess what the ultimate legal cheat is?"

"I have no idea, but I think you're going to tell me."

"You are. I can't imagine what they'd do if you busted in there with the bazooka troops over there." Phantom gestured to the Secret Security men. "Actually, I _can_ imagine it, but I bet real life would be better. So, would you help?"

President Hartman furrowed his brow. "I need to think about that." He said. Phantom nodded.

"Ok. I'll be waiting outside. See ya!" And with that, the ghost teen vanished. President Hartman smiled. He glanced at the paper on his desk and circled _ally_. He looked over at the Secret Security man to his right.

"You have to admire his self-control." He said. The black-suited man looked at him funny.

"Sir?" He asked.

"If he were anyone else, he probably would have just phased in here instead of asking if he could come in. Plus, he probably would have just overshadowed me in the first place instead of asking for my help. He truly is a remarkable kid." President Hartman stood from his desk and headed for the door. "Somebody call Phantom in and ask if he'd rather fly back himself or on the private jet."

LINE BREAK GO TO VLAD'S POV

Vlad Masters glared at Danielle as she stuck out her tongue at him. The doors shut behind her with an air of finality, but Vlad knew that this wasn't over. He stood and walked towards the back door, his brain already spinning out plans.

"This isn't over, Danielle. If I can't have you, then no one can." He whispered.

**BVQA:** Yeah, who saw that coming? He's an obsessive fruitloop.


	4. Chapter 4

**BVQA:** Sorry for the temporary lack of updates. I'm back now!

Danielle danced around her room a month after the court case. Her iPod blared in her ears and she was starting to get dizzy, but she didn't care. The walls of her room turned to a black-and-white blur and the electric green canopy above her bed loomed closer. The word tilted and she found herself hitting the springy mattress, bouncing above the white DP symbols and coming to rest with her face in the green pillow. She rolled over and saw the little pinpoints of light that marked the 'stars' that Jack had so carefully installed in her ceiling.

"Can't be tamed. . . I can't be changed. . . I can't, can't be tamed. . ." She warbled, then the door to her room burst open.

"That's what you think, sissy!" Danny said, then ran over and snatched the earbuds from her ears.

"Hey!" She snapped, but Danny was already racing through the house. Dani followed, slipping into ghost form with barely a thought. She flew through the door and past an annoyed Jazz, who was yelling something about Danny having scared her half to death.

"No, that would be me!" Danny yelled. In the brief instant it took to turn around to say so, Maddy had entered the hallway to be met by a speeding ghost kid. The past month had given her experience with that sort of thing, so she merely stepped to the side and allowed him to slam into the wall. Danny landed on the ground with a thump, and Dani snatched her ipod back. Maddy raised her eyebrows, surprised but not panicking. Danny's ghost form had become a frequent visitor.

"Phantom?"

Danny smiled weakly up at her. "Guilty as charged."

Maddy rolled her eyes and appeared to be suppressing a smile. "When did _you_ get here?"

Danny stood up, checking the wall for a dent. "Well, the ghosts seem to have figured exactly what today is, and they fled in terror lest I get really annoyed with them. So, with nothing else to do, I headed over to see my favorite little sister on her special day."

Dani scowled, but she was barely suppressing laughter. "More like steal your _only_ little sister's ipod."

Danny shook his head slowly back and forth, a chastising look on his face. "Now now, Dani, it isn't stealing if I fully intended to give it back."

The conversation probably would have gone on longer if Danny's duplicate, as Fenton, poked his head out of the kitchen.

"Cake! Oh, hey Phantom." He said, as if he had just noticed his ghost half. Dani rolled her eyes. What a drama king.

Then she headed downstairs to get cake.

LINE BREAK

The whole family was seated around the table, plus Tucker, Sam, and Youngblood. Dani had insisted Youngblood had to come since he had invited both her and Danny to his birthday party, or, more accurately, _death_day party, next week. This didn't, however, stop both Dannys from giving him laser death glares from their respective spots at the table. Apparently, Danny still wasn't forgiving him for kidnapping all the parents and making people think he was crazy, although most of the kids in Amity Park would argue that the night without parents had been the best night of their lives and that Danny really shouldn't have rescued them.

Maddy waltzed into the room bearing a ginormous chocolate cake. Thirteen little green, black, and white candles glimmered like the stars.

"Happy birthday to you. . ."

Somebody flicked off the lights, and only the glow of the candles lit up the room. Somehow, everyone's faces looked warmer in the light, less sharp, as if years had been worn away from everyone present and they were replaced by the carefree children they'd been a long time ago. Even Danny, battle-scarred and always tense and worried, smiled at her, his face clean of lines.

"Happy birthday to you. . ."

Dani stared into the flickering lights, wondering what there was that she could possibly wish for. She had a home, a loving family, friends, Vlad wasn't bothering her, she'd been invited to a party by _Youngblood_, of all people, and. . . oh, yeah, there _was_ that. But that was so impossibly impossible, she didn't even think she could wish for it. . .

"Happy birthday dear Dani. . ."

Dani closed her eyes and watched the afterimages of the flames glow green on the inside of her eyelids. She took a slow, deep breath, feeling her lungs stretch and pull in the amount of air she'd need for a ghostly wail. Not that she was planning on using her most ultimate power. She would, however, need to blow out _all_ the candles or her wish wouldn't come true.

"Happy birthday to you. . ."

Dani blew out slowly, gently quenching all the candles. The flames shrank and died, all except the last one. . . it stayed, stubborn, as Dani began to run out of air. She forced herself not to take a breath, she needed this extra bit of luck badly.

She finally needed to breathe. The candle still hadn't gone out.

LINE BREAK

Dani sat on the couch opening gifts. Danny, in his ghost form, handed her a black bag spilling green tissue paper. Dani accepted it and peered into its depths. Something metallic glinted up at her as if winking. She tugged it out. . . and gasped.

"Wow. . ." She whispered. A tiny silver ghost dangled on the end of a slim silver chain, one eye blue and one eye green. The blue eye was unmistakably ghost ice, which never melted except from the heat of ectoplasm and matched both half-ghost's blue eyes perfectly. The other appeared to be stable ectoplasm, something that was time-consuming and energy-draining to make, but worth it. The silver ghost was sitting, knees to her chin, as if contented to be near Dani.

Dani smiled and slipped the necklace on. Words could not describe her happiness.

"Protect it, and it will protect you." Danny said.

Then, of corse, the front door blew in, showering everyone with bits of wall. Dani cupped her hand around the tiny silver figure, shielding it from the debris. A small shield formed around both of them, and Dani looked up, surprised. She'd never created a shield without meaning to before.

The people responsible for crashing her party stepped through the door, and Dani gasped.

**BVQA:** Yeah. I know. Cliffy central. Anyway, that's all for today. Carry on!


	5. Chapter 5

**BVQA:** Yeah, I'm finally writing more. On with the story!

Dani stared at the two forms outlined in the dust, and knew all too clearly who they were.

"Danny! Hide!" She hissed, and she didn't need to look over to know that he had slipped into invisibility with barely a thought. Youngblood, however, wasn't having the same amount of luck. He hadn't gotten a shield up in time, and his nose was dripping ectoplasm from where it had been slammed with a particularly large chunk of wood. What's more, he was too dazed to even stand up, much less hide from the party crashers.

"Alright, Fentons! Put your hands in the air!" Agent K of the Guys In White said. Dani scowled, annoyed. She not only did _not_ 'put her hands in the air', she stood up and clenched them into fists.

"This is a _birthday party_, fellahs, and I'm thirteen now! So you had better _watch it!_ I own the planet for twenty-four hours, and you are _not_ going to mess it up for me!" She snapped, glaring. The second agent- Dani had no _idea_ what _his_ code letter was- trained a gun at her. Dani found her hand slipping around the tiny silver ghost that was nestled between her collar bones. It was cool to the touch, but her skin was rapidly warming it up. Figuring that she couldn't exactly pound on these guys without first finding out what they were here for, she waited for them to speak.

They did. Lots of words spilled over their tongues and into the room, loud and annoying, like the buzzing of bees. She resisted the urge to swat at them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, we are here to convict you of harboring ghosts and sheltering a criminal! We have the authority to drag you into a holding cell and throw away the key!"

Sam pursed her purple lips, and Dani knew she was about to play a legal trump card. "And I suppose you have a warrant signed by three dignitaries and/or a court of law, proof that they're harboring ghosts _in violation_ of the human/para treaty, and a legally binding court order stating the crimes that said criminal has been accused of."

The Guys In White stared at her for a while, long enough for Danny to put his invisible mouth to Dani's ear and murmur, "They talk a lot, but they have no idea what any of the words really mean. Throw a lot of information at them, and they'll back down. Hit them with an ectoblast, and they'll go crying to their superiors."

Dani nodded, barely perceptibly, and took this information to mean that Danny wouldn't be able to help them without making the situation worse. He was a self-confessed fighter, someone who's first reaction to conflict was to come in swinging. His life had taught him that, the various ghost fights encouraging this line of thought. Dani, however, was slightly different. She hadn't had the life experience to feel like he did about conflict, and she was him in his raw, unrefined, courageous and simple state. She felt that she could solve anything just by talking and hitting at the right times, and now was the time to talk.

"Exactly who are you accusing of being a criminal, and who are you accusing of being in violation of the human/para treaty?" She asked. The second agent blinked a couple times before answering.

"The ghost fugitives would be Danny Phantom and Youngblood, of corse, and the criminal would be _you_."

Dani blinked. She'd been accused of many things in her not-so-lengthy life, from mistake to traitor to a blob of protoplasm, but _criminal?_ Dani had never, _ever_ done _anything_ illegal, not as far as she knew. Well, there were the couple petty thefts she'd done during her life on the street, but no one would send in _these_ goons for _that_. Dani wasn't even sure that anyone had _noticed_ the thefts. So why were they here?

Sam chose the moment to butt in, probably realizing that she was the only one there that had any idea whatsoever what the human/para treaty was.

"Danny Phantom and Youngblood are in no way in violation of the human/para treaty. Youngblood was invited here for a specified period of time and for a specified _reason_, and as stated in paragraph two, section three, line eight of the treaty this is a sanctioned practice. Danny Phantom is half human, and therefore can be treated as an _exception_ to the treaty. Weather or not he chooses to occupy the premises is entirely up to him, and therefore the Fentons are free from any charges regarding harboring ghosts in violation of said treaty." Sam realized she had to breathe at some point and there was a sudden gap in the speech as she got her wind back. "Furthermore, you have caused damage to the property _and_ to said child ghost, which is in of itself a violation of the treaty and is punishable as such. Danielle is innocent until proven guilty and therefore cannot be arrested without first being read her rights or without cause and a warrant, and considering you have neither I suggest you leave before the Fentons decide to sue."

Agent K straightened up. "But we _do_ have proper cause. Danielle Fenton/Phantom was seen during a bank robbery earlier today."

Dani blinked. What? "But that's impossible!" She blurted. "I was here the whole time!"

Agent K looked at her disdainfully. "Doing _what_, exactly?"

"Listening to my ipod and playing air guitar while spinning in circles."  
The words were out of Dani's mouth before she could stop them, and even as she said them she realized how weak they sounded. She was absolutely certain they wouldn't hold up in court.

Luckily, Sam _would _hold up in court. "Do you have any _proof_ it was Dani?" She asked, the word 'proof' dripping from her mouth like an accusation. The two agents looked sheepish.

"Uh. . . not as such, no."

Sam smiled, a sickly sweet smile that would warn anyone who knew _anything_ that she was in a dangerous mood. "Then I suggest you _get the #%% off this property!_"

The two agents left, tripping over their own feet in their haste. Danny popped back into existence, looking very relieved.

"That. Was. Awesome!" He said, smiling at Sam. Dani looked up at him.

"Hey, Danny, what did you mean about the necklace protecting me?" She asked. Danny shrugged.

"Clockwork said to say it."

"And you didn't ask why?" Dani exclaimed.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Of corse I _asked_. You know Clockwork, though, he's about as willing to give out information as a brick wall."

Dani touched the little silver ghost and wondered what it meant.

LINE BREAK

Dani trudged up the stairs, yawning. Her party had been loads of fun, but now it was time for bed. She flopped down, waiting for her parents to come and tuck her in. Her hand drifted to the silver, green, and black thermos that had been a present from Sam, and she glanced down at the silver platform sandals from Tucker. Youngblood had given her a water gun that would _never_ run out of water, and her parents had told her that their present was a little too big to fit in a box. They also said they'd tell her when she went to bed.

Jazz had, in her Jazzish way, given Dani a book. But it wasn't just _any_ book, it was a book written about famous women throughout history. To anyone else, it would have been stupid, but to Dani it was an amazing thing. She'd grown up believing she was useless, a mistake for being a girl, and here was a book that proved exactly how useful girls could be. Dani smiled through her sleepy haze. She vaguely registered her parents entering the room and gently lifting the comforter over her. A warm hand smoothed her hair back, and somebody planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Sleep tight, Dani." Her mother whispered. "Tomorrow, you start school."

The lights clicked off and Dani's last waking thought was that she'd gotten her birthday wish after all. . .

**BVQA:** What do _you _think Clockwork meant?


	6. Chapter 6

**BVQA:** Nothing interesting to report. Carry on!

Dani toyed with the edge of her shirt, nervously twisting the smooth, silky fabric into a bunch. Her toes tapped the bottom of her silver platform sandals. Her fingers dropped to her jet-black tutu, smoothing it out. It contrasted strongly with her white shirt, trimmed in black lace in a straight line from arm to hip, bordering a sold black back. A green long-sleeved shirt clung to her arms, perfectly matching her leggings. She'd been assured many times by her parents and brother and sister that she looked beautiful, but she was far, far too nervous to listen. They were probably just being nice.

Her hand wandered to her hair. Jazz, in a fit of niceness, had streaked it black, white, and green, before repeating the gesture in her ghost form. Her hair would look the same whether ghost or human, at least until the dye washed out. As Jazz had put it, her best defense so far had been that no one had known she was half-ghost, so now the best defense would be _everyone_ knowing. Plus, the streaked hair just looked cool.

She was standing in the curtained bit of the stage at Casper High, waiting for Lancer or Danny to announce her as a new student. Danny _Phantom_, who decided he'd make his once-in-a-lifetime appearance at Casper High to say she was his sister. And to show her around on her first day. Maybe. They'd arrived just before lunch and the announcement had gone out to report to the stage. Every student in Casper high was waiting for them.

There went Danny to the microphone now. There was an eruption of screaming from the Phangirls, and he flinched. He'd never been very comfortable with hero worship.

"I'm here today to talk about someone very special to me. . ." He said, then noticed the looks on some of the Phangirl's faces. "No, not _girlfriend_ special, _family_ special."

There were some scattered disappointed groans and he cleared his throat. "Now, some of you may be unaware of this, but I have a sister. A sister who's half-human and has been, until recently, been living on the streets. She was successfully adopted and will be attending this school. She's twe- uh, thirteen and her name is Danielle. Please, give a warm welcome to Dani-with-an-i Phantom!"

Dani stepped out from behind the curtains and was nearly knocked over by the Phanboy screams. Her eyes sought out Tucker, Sam, Jazz, and Danny in his human form, noticing them in the back of the room. Tucker was applauding enthusiastically, Sam and Jazz giving her thumbs up. Danny (ghost form) turned to her and beckoned her up to the microphone.

"It's all yours, sis." He said. She swallowed hard and stepped up to the podium.

"Hi." She said, and the crowd went into hysterics. Jeez, she could see how Danny would get tired of this. She realized how bad they would be mobbed after this and mentally reminded herself to thank Danny later. He had basically surrendered himself to being torn apart by Phans just to be there for her.

She had the best big brother in the world.

"I'm Dani. I'm. . . well, I'm going to be going to school here. I've never been to school before, so I'm going to need some help figuring stuff out, ok?"

Wrong thing to say. The Phanboys were now looking like they'd fight each other to be able to help her out.

"And I just wanna say that I'm not perfect, so I hope I'll have a good year."

The curtains dropped and Dani finally started breathing again. The screams and applause from the other side of the curtain were the scariest things she'd ever heard.

Danny apparently agreed.

"If we die before the day is over, I just want you to know that I love you."

Dani smiled at his gallows humor. "Me too. Now let's leave the stage and get ripped apart by Phans."

LINE BREAK

Dani leaned against the wall next to the trash can, desperately trying not to be noticed, although the cafeteria was bursting with people. It didn't work. The blonde boy from the first time she'd been to Casper High was heading her way. What was his name? Dash? Whoever he was, Danny was giving him the evil eye from across the room.

Dash leaned against the wall in a way that was probably supposed to be cool. Dani immediately hated him. Was he _hitting_ on her? She suppressed the sudden urge to hurl.

"Hey, Dani, I hear you're in my homeroom." Dash said.

He was _definitely_ hitting on her.

Ugh.

_Ok, you're going to have to deal with this from a _lot _of boys, Dani, so _try_ to be nice._ She told herself. "Yeah, I guess so." She said noncommittally. Dash seemed to take this as an encouraging sign.

"You doin' anything this weekend?" He asked. Dani gagged.

"I'm going to a birthday party." She said.

Dash smiled. "Really? Which one? I always get invited to all of them, so I'll need to decide which one I'm going to."

Dani smirked. "Well, I bet you didn't get invited to _this_ one. It's Youngblood's."

Dash frowned. "The ghost kid who kidnaped our parents?"

"That would be the one!"

Dash paused. "Can I come?"

_To Youngblood's party? That would be a _nightmare_. No freaking way_. Dani thought. "Uh, _no_." She said.

Dash frowned. "This is because you think I can't take care of myself, isn't it?" He asked. "Check this out. I can _own_ Fenton."

Sure enough, Danny had made his way over to them. Dash shoved him over and he fell, slamming into the trash cans with a clang. Dani's eyes glowed green.

"Oh, yeah, shoving my brother into a trash can is _so_ going to impress me." She said. Dash's eyes widened.

"But I thought _Phantom_ was your brother. . ?"

Dani scowled. "I got adopted by the Fentons, which gives me cause to do _this_. . ."

Dani pulled her fist back and punched Dash in the face. He did a little twirl before hitting the ground with a thud.


	7. Chapter 7

**BVQA:** Hello, welcome, and gummy bears!

**Dani:** Gummy bears?

**BVQA:** Gummy bears!

**Dani:** Why gummy bears?

**BVQA:** You'll find out! And thanks to Kern-Wolf for the first part of the story! I made some minor edits to fit with my plot line, but otherwise it's UNTOUCHED!

By lunch time, Dani was still fuming over what Dash did to Danny. What made it worse was the fact he did it in hopes of impressing her.

_Yeah, right, like _**_that _**_would have worked_. Dani thought sarcastically. She hated bullies and had no interest in them. She pushed these thoughts aside as she looked up from the cheeseburger she had just bought and smiled as she made her way to the table where Dani, Sam, and Tucker sat. Dani was glad she had lunch with them. She wished Jazz was there, too, but she had the lunch before her and Danny.

"Hey, guys." said Dani as she sat down next to Danny. Sam and Tucker were on the other side of the table, Sam in front of Danny and Tucker in front of her.

"Hey." Tucker said, taking a pause from eating his own burger. For him, that was a _huge_ effort.

"Hey, Dani." Sam said, looking up from her salad.

"Hey, sis." Danny said. Dani liked him calling her sis, and she knew he liked it a lot too. It felt more right for him to call her his sister then his cousin.

"So, how are you liking your first day of school?" Danny asked. Dani sighed.

"Great, if you count being mobbed by Phangirls and Phanboys, endless questions, people wanting to know _everything_ about me and my bother Phantom, and wanting to get the details on his human half." Dani said sarcastically.

Danny almost choked on his lunch. "Wait, why would people think Phantom has a human half?"

"Come on, dude, it's not that big of a jump." Tucker said. "At the assembly, Phantom introduced Dani as his little sister and that she was _half human_."

"Sooo that means. . ?" Dani asked Danny, waiting for him to catch on.

He sighed and said, "That Phantom must be half human also."

"Right, anyway, Dani you shouldn't be too surprised by how treat you, since you _are_ the little sister of the town hero." Sam said, looking at Danny and causing him to blush a little.

"Yeah you should expect people to be ready to claw each other's eyes out to stand next to you and if you're anything like your brother here," Tucker said as he wrapped his arm around Danny's neck, "You'll have Phanboys lined up, waiting, willing, and wanting to date you." Tucker finished, sounding slightly annoyed. Dani figured he was probably jealous. As far as she was concerned, he could _have_ the killer Phangirls. "Just let them just _try_ and date my little sister." Danny said, eyes glowing and with a slight growl in his voice. Dani laughed a little at her bother's overprotectiveness and figured Jazz would probably be the same way. Of corse, Jazz didn't have ghost powers. . .

"Danny, I think I can take care of any Phanboy looking to ask me out, after all, I did deck Dash, remember?"

Everyone laughed after that, then Sam said, "Besides, I don't think Dani wants to date someone _shallow_ who only likes her because she's Phantom's sister."

"Hey, Dani!" Said a ridiculously shallow-sounding voice. Sam scowled.

"And _speaking_ of shallow, here comes the goddang _queen_ of shallow, _Paulina,_ and her lady-in-waiting, _Star_."

'Paulina' and 'Star' sat down next to Dani. "Like, hi! I'm Paulina!"

"Hi! I'm Star!" They said, looking at Dani. She tried not to gag and said:

"Hi, I'm Dani."

"Like, we _know_ who you are." Star said.

"Yeah, you're Danny Phantom's little sister, we're like, your bother's biggest fans!" said Paulina.

(and cue my stuff. Thanks, Kern-Wolf!)

Dani leaned back and shut her eyes. Oh, God, no. . .

"We know, like, _everything_ about him! Except for _one_ thing. . ." Paulina said, pretending to be horrifically upset. Dani gritted her teeth. She was _so_ not falling for this _again_.

"No, I'm _not_ telling you who my brother's human half is. You know, Just because I'm a year younger than you doesn't make me stupid, got it?"

Dani opened her eyes for a lovely view of Paulina's gaping mouth. The poor girl was obviously stunned.

"What?" She gasped.

Dani smiled sweetly. "Let me spell it out for you. I. Am. Not. An. Idiot. I know when I'm being used. And let me tell you, I don't like it." Dani was spared having to elaborate further when the announcement bell went off.

"Dani Fenton/Phantom, please report to the office. Dani Fenton/Phantom, report to the office."

LINE BREAK.

Dani propped her chin up on her hand, suppressing a yawn. She didn't see what the problem was. Dash shoved Danny, so she punched Dash. End of story. But apparently, Mr. Lancer didn't see it that way. Never mind the fact that Dash had only passed out from shock, not because Dani had actually _broken_ anything, and forget the fact that Danny's shoulders and back were _already_ bruised. Dani was still in trouble. What was up with that?

". . .disappointed in you, young lady!" Lancer finished. "We'll see what your parents have to say about this! Just because you're related to Danny Phantom doesn't mean you can do whatever you want, and you'll have lots of time to think about that in detention."

Only one part of that sentence had sunk in. "My parents?"

Lancer glared. "Yes. They're outside right now." He walked over to the door and let them in.

Maddy and Jack took up seats on either side of Dani.

"Young lady, I hear that Dash shoved Danny and you decked him!" Jack said.

Dani sighed. "Yeah, I'm sorry I-"

Maddy leaned in closer and whispered, "Great job, standing up for your brother like that. If Dash does anything else to him, you let us know. . ." Maddy noticed the glare she was getting from Lancer, and quickly covered her tracks. "And don't do it again!"

"But seriously, feel free to do it again." Jack whispered.

Dani smiled. It seemed she'd inherited the Fenton sense of right and wrong. Maybe she and Danny had more in common than DNA.

LINE BREAK

Dani rested her feet on the desk in front of her, toying with the cord to her earbuds. She wasn't allowed to turn her ipod on, but she was sure as heck allowed to wear her earbuds. Even if they weren't plugged into anything, she was determined to keep them in. Maybe it was childish, but she wasn't going to let the rules of detention kill her ability to have fun. Even if earbuds were only fun if they were plugged in. Sigh.

The rest of the room was deserted, except for Lancer who was sitting at the front desk and staring at her as if he could melt her earbuds to white goop just by looking long enough. Predictably, it wasn't working. Dani smiled and began to tap her feet to an imaginary beat, nodding in time and really annoying Lancer. Maybe there was a reason Lancer didn't like her. . .

Lancer sighed and stood up.

"Look, I realize I might come off as uncaring, but I'm just trying to help. In the long run, this is good for you." He said. Dani rolled her eyes.

"I didn't _hurt_ him, so why am I in detention?" She asked. Lancer sat down on the desk in front of her.

"I'm not saying it's fair, but a lot of people are idolizing you. If you go around hitting anyone who gets on your nerves, we're going to wind up with a lot of kids that approach _all_ their problems that way. Dash isn't here in detention because even if we put him in here he'd just leave. Besides," Lancer said, smiling a little, "I think getting decked by a girl two years younger than him in front of the whole school was punishment enough."

Dani smiled back at him. "One year. I just turned thirteen."

The buzzer signaling an incoming call went off, and Lancer sighed.

"Would Mr. Lancer please come to the office? Mr. Lancer, come to the office."

Lancer stood up, shaking his head. "Alright, if there's a ghost attack you may leave. Otherwise, please stay here."

Dani smiled, even though she couldn't tell if it was a joke or not. "Nah, I'll just leave the ghost fighting to my brother." She said.

The door shut behind Lancer with a definite _click_. Dani sat back and closed her eyes, imagining that her ipod was on. If she focused, she could picture her songs note-for-note.

_Thanks for the memories. . . even though they weren't so great. . ._

She briefly entertained the idea of sending the song to Vlad, then remembered that the rest of the song wasn't a sentiment she wanted to share with him. The song itself was awesome, though, with a large amount of edginess. Perfect.

Her imaginary playlist flicked through a few P!nk songs, then the wall blew in. Again. This was getting to be a common problem. _I really need to learn to shield myself better,_ she thought as she dove to the ground. _C'mon, shield!_ She glanced up and was met by an expanse of green.

_Wait, what? I did it? I can never do that under duress! It's way too hard!_ She thought, then felt a small metal object digging into her collarbone. It was the necklace that Danny had given her. She ran her fingers over it, checking to see if it was damaged. It wasn't. Whatever it was made of was pretty strong.

Dani stood, still holding the tiny silver ghost pendant, and turned to face her enemy.

**Dani:** I still don't understand about the gummy bears.

**BVQA:** I know. I lied.

**Dani: **What?

**BVQA:** I kinda tend to do that. Anyway, for all you know you're getting attacked by mutant gummy bears!

**Dani:** Yeah, right.

**BVQA:** It's true!

**Dani:** I don't believe you.

**BVQA:** Why not?

**Dani:** Because you just said you tend to lie!

**BVQA:** No I didn't!

**Dani:** You're HOPELESS.


	8. Chapter 8

**BVQA:** Hmm, I wonder who can guess who's walking through the. . . hole in the wall.

**Dani:** Oh, _real_ eloquent.

**BVQA:** Well, I wanted to say 'walked through the door' but there _isn't_ a door, is there?

**Dani:** Real observant, Sherlock.

**BVQA:** Alright, that's it! I want a hundred page essay on doors! NOW!

It was the Guys In White. Oooof corse. Because they couldn't leave her alone, could they? Not even at school, where she thought they'd be intelligent enough _not_ to follow her. But apparently not!

"You guys _again?"_ She groaned, annoyed. "Who keeps sending you?"

"It's our job to track down evil ghosts. No one has to _send_ us." Agent some-letter-of-the-alphabet said.

Dani rolled her eyes. "When are you going to get it through your head that I am _not_ evil? I mean, sure, I can get kinda grumpy sometimes, but-"

"Were you _grumpy_ when you broke into that museum?" Agent K said, in what was probably supposed to be a threatening tone of voice.

"To have robbed any museums, I would have to have cut detention, and since I _clearly_ haven't, you must have me confused with someone else."

"You don't fool us." The other agent said. Dani interrupted him.

"Ok, this is _really_ bugging me. What's your code letter? I honestly can't remember and it'll be awkward complaining about this to my friends if I have to keep referring to you as 'that one guy who's letter escapes me and is _not_ agent K'."

"We don't have to tell you anything, but you _do_ have to tell us what you did with it!" Agent K said, leveling his huge gun at her. Dani's eyes widened and she jumped up on top of one of the few desks left standing.

"Going ghost!" She shouted, a habit she'd picked up from Danny, and let the white rings of light wash over her. Her first-day-of-school outfit disappeared, to be replaced by her customary semi-jumpsuit. Energy crackled to life in her palm and she glared at the two Goons In White. They didn't look intimidated. They were idiots.

"Alright, I'll put it this way." She said, knowing her eyes were glowing brightly. "You can either back off and do something semi-intelligent for once, or you can stay here and get your butts handed to you."

Have we established that the GIW are idiots?

LINE BREAK DURING WHICH YOU CAN PROBABLY GUESS WHAT HAPPENS

Dani sat on the couch back at home, her mother fussing over the scratch on her arm.

"Mom, I'm _fine_." Dani said. "I totally kicked their butts. It's just a little cut."

Maddy sighed. "Dani, I know you're a responsible young lady with supernatural powers far beyond my mortal comprehension, but you're still my daughter and I am _determined_ to be overprotective!"

"Well, when you put it _that_ way. . ." Dani said. Her mother smiled and pulled out the first aid kit. She quickly swabbed Dani's cut with antibiotics, then pulled out a length of bandages and wrapped them around the cut. Dani smiled. Vlad would never have done this. . .

"Dani-annie!" Her dad called from the entryway. "There's someone here to see you!"

No sooner had the words been spoken than Youngblood ran into the room.

"Hi Dani!" He said. "I heard you got attacked at your school. What happened?"

Dani smiled. "Same thing that always happens. I kicked butt." Dani noticed that Youngblood's hair was messed up and his cheeks were red from running. . . or flying, as the case might be. "What happened to _you?"_

Youngblood ran a hand through his hair embarrassedly. Dani couldn't tell if he blushed since his cheeks were already red. "Well, you know the Red Huntress?" He began. Dani nodded.

"Yeah, actually. She helped rescue me from Vlad once."

Youngblood's eyes lit up. Not literally, like in Dani or Danny's case, but with a hopeful glint. "Great! Then maybe you can tell her I'm not here to take over the world right now, and I just came to check on you!"

Dani's eyes widened. "She was chasing you?"

Youngblood shook his head. "No, she's right _outside your house_ right now."

"She's outside?" Dani exclaimed, and jumped off the couch. She raced for the door and flung it open, greeted in an instant by a familiar red-clad figure. "Hi!" She exclaimed, and threw her arms around Valerie.

"Danielle!" Valerie exclaimed, hugging her back.

"It's good to see you!" Dani said, pulling back. Valerie smiled.

"You too, Dani." She replied.

Youngblood poked his head out of the door. "You _do_ know each other!" He said, and Valerie pulled out a handgun. Youngblood ducked back inside the house shouting, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

Dani smiled, noticing the joking smile on Valerie's face. "You really need to ease up on teasing him. He's terrified."

"Just makes it funnier, Dani." Valerie said. "I knew he was on the up-and-up when your dad let him inside."

"He just came to see if I was ok after the GIW came after me in detention." Dani said. Valerie's face darkened.

"About that. . ." Valerie said. "I really hate being the bearer of bad news, but after what happened, a large percentage of people decided that they didn't want you near their kids with your ghost powers."

Dani's eyes widened. "But I just started! They can't kick me out on my first day of school!"

Valerie sighed. "I said, 'with your ghost powers'. Now, I'm not going to pretend I _like _the idea of _anyone_ running around with ghostly energy, but I dislike the idea of removing your ghost half even more. That's why I brought this." Valerie held out a silver ring and dropped it into Dani's palm.

"What is it?" Dani asked.

"It works as a sort of. . . off switch for your powers. I don't understand the mechanics, but basically it boils down to this: you keep the ring on and your ghost powers can't manifest themselves. You don't have to keep it on _all_ the time, just when you get close to the school."

Dani sighed and slid the ring into her pocket. "Ok." She said. "I don't like it, but I'll do it."

Youngblood peeked out the door again and Valerie's arm snaked out, pointing the handgun in his direction. He gave a little whimper and hid again.

"We should probably tell him it's fake, huh?" Valerie whispered. Dani smiled. At least things were more interesting in Amity park.

Now if only she could figure out why she kept getting accused of all these crimes. . .

**BVQA:** Aaand now, here's Dani with her hundred page essay on doors!

**Dani:** Doors, an essay by Dani Phantom. Have you ever noticed those things in between rooms that keep you from proceeding in a normal fashion? They are called 'doors', and they are quite popular in the American country. Several styles of these 'doors' exist, including, but not limited to, wood, glass, and metal.

**BVQA:** Just keep going, Dani. I've got all day.


	9. Chapter 9

**BVQA:** Hi, all! Welcome back!

**Dani:** Hi! Welcome to my story!

**BVQA:** . . .YOUR story?

**Dani:** Well, it's about ME!

**BVQA:** And written by ME! Possession is 9/10 of the law!

**Dani:** Really? Cool!

*possesses/overshadows BVQA*

**Dani/BVQA:** It's MY story now!

Dani ran her hand through her once-again black hair. It had taken three showers and four bottles of shampoo, but she'd finally managed to get rid of the streaks that were supposed to last for weeks but that she was no longer allowed to have because it made it 'too difficult to tell whether she was in her ghost form or not'. Another thing that wasn't allowed was her ipod. Dani sighed. Why did she have a feeling that Vlad had something to do with this? Because his name was written _all over it_, maybe?

Dani slumped down in the back of the bus, crossing her fingers tightly that no one noticed her. No more flying to school meant bus rides, and bus rides meant getting mobbed every morning if she was noticed. She was hoping that the fact that her hair was back to 'normal' (if that word even applied to her) would attract less attention, but she also had to admit that her outfit was not the most inconspicuous. Her hair was tugged back with a black bow, and two tiny white skulls dangled from her ears. A thin, choker necklace clung to her neck, adorned with another skull, and her black belt was embossed with a skull pattern. Her light green shirt clung to her like plastic wrap (only non-see-through) and had a black skull with bat wings on it. Two green fishnet gloves wrapped up her wrists and matched her green fishnet tights, while her black shoes with green laces contrasted strongly with her white shorts. All in all, it was a loud, unnecessarily flashy outfit, but Dani felt that it made up for her lack of powers- if only a little bit.

Ok, make that a _very_ little bit.

Ok, fine, it didn't make up for it at all. To tell the truth, this was Dani's worst nightmare, minus showing up in her underwear. She was terrified of not being able to take care of herself, and without her powers she was just a little kid with a big mouth and no clue how the world actually worked. The only thing keeping her from pulling off her ring and flying screaming from the bus was the fact that she knew Danny would always be there to protect her. Always. He'd _promised_, and he always kept promises.

Dani was jerked from her thoughts as a shadow fell over her. The fact that the shadow in question smelled like the gym, failing grades, and popularity gave her a pretty good idea of who it was. Dash Baxter, phanboy extrordinare. Dani didn't even bother looking up.

"Is this seat taken?" Dash asked. Dani panicked. She was _not_ riding to school with Dash sitting next to her. She would rather _die_.

"Uh. . . yeah, actually." She said. The lie sounded feeble even to her, and she could _hear_ Dash raise his eyebrows.

"Really? Who by?" He asked. Dani's nails dug into her palms as her brain went into overdrive.

"Uh. . ." She hesitated, then was struck with a brilliant idea. "By Tucker! Yeah! He's my brother's best friend, so why wouldn't I sit with him, right?"

Dani finally looked up at Dash. He looked confused. "Phantom is friends with Tucker?" He asked. Dani wanted to hit him again.

"Danny _Fenton_. You know, the guy sitting two seats in front of us giving you the evil eye?" She replied. Then, softer, in a voice only she could hear, "The guy I decked you over? Boy, you really _are_ an idiot if you forgot something like _that_. . ."

Dash didn't notice her snide comment. He just sighed and sat down in the seat across from her. Wow. Apparently, he _had _forgotten the whole 'decked' thing, because why else would he be acting like this?

Dani got her answer rather quickly.

"Gee, Dani- can I call you Dani?"

"No."

"Anyway, Dani, I heard about the ring thing, an' all. Sorry about that. It must suck, them telling you you can't use your powers."

_Yes, yes it does_. Dani thought, _ Because you are _begging_ for a chunk of ghost ice down your shirt. Ego, much?_

"Yeah." Was all she said. Dash leaned in closer to her and she suddenly remembered something she'd read somewhere. . . how did it go? Oh, yes, that's right. 'STRESS: A condition brought on by over-riding the body's desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately deserves it.'

Teen stress was starting already.

"You know, Dani, if I could re-arrange the alphabet, I'd put 'U' and 'I' together." Dash said. That was probably the cheesiest pick-up line the world had ever known, and Dani thanked her lucky stars that she'd found a perfect retort to that in the same place she'd read the bit about stress.

"Really? 'Cuz I'd put 'F' and 'U' together."

The look on Dash's face was so priceless that Dani wished she had a camera. Then the most amazing thing happened.

Tucker Foley sat down next to her and clicked a quick picture with his PDA before turning to her and saying;

"Hey, Dani. I'm assuming you'll want a copy of that?"

Dani gave him a hug.

"Guess that's a 'yes', then. . ." Tucker murmured, and the bus pulled away from his house and towards the school.

"Dude." Came Danny's voice from two seats over. "The first time a girl hugs you, and it's my _sister_."

The laughter didn't stop until they reached the school. Which was good, because when they got there there was nothing but bad news awaiting them.

**Dani:** *now out of the BVQA's body, glancing nervously at her to make sure she is still asleep* Uh. . . reviews might calm her down once she wakes up, OK? Please? Hey! Maybe I can pacify her by bringing up a question she wanted to ask! *ahem*

'Over my many treks through fanfiction, I have found several pairings with Dani. There are only two I found acceptable: DanixYoungblood and DanixTucker. Please review with which one you like better and why'.

**BVQA:** *sleepy* Wha happened?

**Dani:** No, seriously, PLEASE!


	10. Chapter 10

**BVQA:** Thanks to your lovely reviews, I didn't kill Dani!

**Dani:** Yeah, but she did ground me for a month.

**BVQA:** XD Anyway, kudos to black robin for trying the F-U trick! Aaand thank you ALL for telling me which pairing you liked for Dani! ON TO THE STORY!

Out of all the things Dani _didn't_ want to see when she got to the school- A fire, a massive invading army of ghosts, an earthquake, a massive invading army of reporters- the thing she _most_ didn't want to see was a squadron of police cars, about thirty pairs of glowing handcuffs, Vlad the fruitloop and the GIW. It was, however, exactly what she saw through the dirty window of the school bus. Her immediate reaction was to tap Tucker on the shoulder and point out the window.

"You see that too, right?" She asked, nose smushed up against the glass in an attempt to see better. Tucker glanced out the window.

"Maybe they're not here to arrest anybody." He suggested. One of the GIW raised a megaphone to his mouth.

"You are under arrest!" He shouted.

"Well, maybe they're not here to arrest any _ghosts_." Tucker suggested again.

"All humans must leave the bus immediately so we can apprehend the suspect."

Tucker paused, then made a final, flimsy attempt at cheering Dani up. "Maybe they're here to arrest some other ghost."

"Danielle Fenton/Phantom, you are under arrest!"

Tucker sighed. Dani pulled away from the window and glanced at Danny. He looked at her with pity and mouthed, 'any idea what they think you did now?'. Dani shook her head no and mouthed right back, 'I might have forgotten to make my bed this morning. Think that's it?'

Danny smiled at her joke, but it didn't reach his eyes. Dani noticed that a stream of neon green was swirling around on the surface of his iris like oil on water. In a flash, it was gone, but Dani realized he must be really ticked off at Vlad for his anger to be manifesting in his eyes. She shuddered as the megaphone came again.

"Danielle Fenton/Phantom, you are under arrest!"

"Dani, why are they arresting you?" Dash asked. His normally obnoxious voice was hushed, fear taking the edge away.

Dani sighed. "Not that it's any of your business, but. . . they keep convicting me of robberies I didn't commit." Dani noticed the dull, glazed look in Dash's eyes and sighed, dumbing it down. "They keep saying I stole things I that didn't."

Dash slowly nodded. "And you don't want to be arrested?"

Dani sighed and, with as much sarcasm as she could muster under the tense circumstances, said, "No, Dash, I would _love_ to be dragged off to jail for something I didn't do. That would be _swell_."

Dash scowled. "Jeez, sorry. I thought maybe you'd made a plan or something and you were going to let yourself get arrested to get into their base or something."

"I repeat, all humans must leave the bus immediately so we can apprehend the suspect."

Dani looked up at Dash, and noticed the oddest expression on his face. The vacant stare was gone, and he looked almost as if he were in pain. Then, it hit Dani.

Dash was thinking.

"They need us to leave the bus, right?" Dani nodded. "So what happens if we don't?" Dash asked. Dani hesitated. Had Dash just had. . . an idea? And a _good_ idea at that.

Dani smiled. "Go for it."

LINE BREAK

The television screen held the face of an anxious-looking blonde weatherman who was standing in front of Casper High. The background noise alone was deafening, and the man had to shout to be heard above the clamor. "This just in! Breaking news!" Lance Thunder said. "I'm here reporting live from the scene, where the largest student protest since the Nastyburger incident is currently underway. When government officials attempted to arrest Dani Fenton, AKA Danielle Phantom, they clearly weren't prepared for the huge amount of support the young teen had managed to pick up in no less than a _half a day_ of school. After clear instructions that all humans were to exit the bus so they could apprehend the ghost girl, the only one to exit was the bus driver. The directive was repeated several more times, until finally one student, Daniel Fenton, stepped up to the entrance and yelled that, quote, 'If you want to arrest my little sister, you're going to have to drag the whole bus to jail with her!'."

Lance Thunder began walking across the school grounds, the camera panning with him.

"When the government officials, the infamous Guys In White, attempted to do just that, a student known as Dash Baxter pushed Daniel out of the way and yelled to the children already in the school, 'Everybody come on! They can't arrest _all_ of us!'. Children began pouring out of the school and onto the bus, to the point where there was no more room. Did this stop them? No! Other students began climbing on _top_ of the bus, on the front, and even balanced in the windows. Mayor Masters, the man who created Danielle from Daniel Phantom's DNA, is currently attempting to calm the students down."

The camera panned over to a school bus with, as Lance Thunder had said, children on top of the bus, on the front, and in the windows. Only one window was left clear, and through it Dani Phantom herself was watching the crowd outside. One of the kids on the bus waved at the camera, and you could have sworn one said, "Hi, mom." Vlad Masters had his 'kind, loving mayor' face on, and was trying to reason with the kids.

Key word: 'trying'.

"Oh, come on, you can't stay in there _forever_." He said, and the camera turned back to Lance.

"Nonetheless, that appears to be what the kids are attempting to do." He said. "If this holds out, it's going to take an army to get those kids off the bus."

LINE BREAK

A bell rang from somewhere inside the school, the lonely sound of times with a little more order and a lot more sitting at desks and learning things. Dani glanced down at her watch- an action hindered by the hundreds of students currently invading her personal bubble- and noted that it was three-o-clock. It would have been time to go home, if they'd had school today. She couldn't even see Tucker or Danny or Sam, the bus was so crowded. It was sheer dumb luck that she'd managed to keep her window clear for a view of the cop cars pulled up outside. Most had left already, but the GIW were still there with their megaphone and handcuffs. Vlad was still there too, demonstrating his utter ignorance when it came to modern slang. That had gotten boring about two hours ago, and-

Wait a second.

The school bell had rung.

That meant that she didn't need to wear the ring anymore!

Dani smiled broadly, and slipped her hand around the tiny silver ghost pendant dangling around her neck for luck. Then she reached up with her other hand, and tugged the ring off. The affect was instantaneous.

Dani felt like someone had pulled a plug out of her heart, and pure energy rushed out of the hole, filling her with an ecstatic glow of power as it raced through her. She could swear that her veins flashed green, and she pulled from her core and let the white rings of her ghost self wash over her. She shut her eyes as the light reached them, not wanting to be blinded, and for a second the inside of her eyelids glowed green.

She phased out of the wall of the bus and waved to the students still onboard, grinning and shouting her thanks. Everyone waved back, and Danny let his eyes flash green for a moment in a show of appreciation for a job well done. Dani heard the sound of a weapon charging behind her and, without a second's hesitation, dove into the ground and began her way home.

LINE BREAK

It took hours, but eventually Danny, Sam, and Tucker joined Dani at Fentonworks. Sam flopped onto the couch, exhausted, and murmured something about the fourth amendment before falling asleep. Danny smiled down at her, then glanced over at Dani.

"It took _forever_, but Sam out-lawyered the GIW's lawyers and got you out of trouble, but I don't know how much longer she can keep it up." He said. "You need to tell me what's going on."

Dani sighed. "I wish I knew."


	11. Chapter 11

**BVQA:** Yes! It is I! I haven't died!

**Danny:** We're all so glad.

**BVQA:** Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?

**Danny:** No, no. . . just go do the story already so Dani can get un-grounded and I won't have to do the stupid BVQA's note at the beginning of the chapter.

"I don't wanna be like Cinderella sittin' in a dark old dusty cellar waiting for somebody to come and set me free! I don't wanna be like Snow White waiting for a handsome prince to come and save me on a horse of white unless we're riding side by side! Don't want to depend on no one else! I'd rather rescue myself!" Dani sang, twirling in a circle and feeling her skirt swoosh around her ankles. She was sooo glad that Danny and Jazz weren't around to see her dancing. She loved her siblings, really, but some things were private. Her parents had had to drive Jazz to some college interview thingie and Danny had, predictably, sensed a ghost and taken off. Dani had complained that she should come, but he'd said something about the GIW and threatened to stick her in the thermos if she followed him.

And, really, after the monster week she'd had she needed a break from people in general.

"I can slay my own dragon! I can dream my own dreams! My knight in shining armor is me, so I'm gonna set me free!" Dani trilled.

And the doorbell rang.

Dani turned up the volume on her ipod and pretended not to hear the doorbell.

"Like Cinderella. . ."

Ding-dong.

"In a dusty cellar. . ."

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

"Waiting for somebody to come and set me free. . ."

Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong.

Dani rolled her eyes and shut off her ipod. "Fine." She muttered under her breath, fuming. "This better be good."

Dani plodded down the stairs, grumbling to herself. It was Saturday! That meant no school, no interruptions, and no unexpected guests who rang the doorbell too many times. Apparently, no one had informed the doorbell-ringer of this fact.

Dani yanked the door open with an annoyed huff.

"Yes?" She snapped. She then registered the vast number of cameras staring up at her and realized she hadn't brushed her hair that morning. Could this day get any worse?

"Dani, the American people want to know! Are you seeing anyone?" A guy's voice called out. Immediately another voice leaped over it, shouting another disturbing question.

"Are you lesbian or straight?"

Dani felt herself being blinded by bright flashes. "I don't see how that's any of your business-" She began, and an even _more_ disturbing question jumped into the conversation.

"We heard it through the grapevine that you're pregnant! Who's the father?"

Dani felt her brain start to melt and drip out of her ear. "Um. . . I'm freaking _thirteen_. . . now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go throw up."

Dani slammed the door just as Danny phased through the ceiling. He raised his eyebrows.

"I'd reprimand you for opening the door, but I think those reporters are punishment enough." He said. Dani raced over to him and gave him a tight hug.

"The. . . media. . . is. . . _evil_. . ." She hissed, and Danny patted her on the head.

"I'm well aware of that." He agreed. ". . .You're really freaking out, huh?" He asked. Dani nodded. Danny ran his hand absentmindedly through her hair. "Wanna hear a story?"

Dani raised her eyebrows. "Is this one of those stories where you describe some people who are really us, and you make it really motivational and don't fool anyone?"

Danny laughed. "No. This is a real story."

Dani smiled. "Ok then!"

"But first. . . we make hot chocolate!" Danny exclaimed, and threw her over his shoulder before running into the kitchen. Dani watched the world spin by in a blur as she giggled. She wasn't sure why she was giggling. It just felt like the right thing to do.

Dani's skirt flipped over her head, temporarily blinding her. She was wearing jeans underneath, but she still smacked the back of Danny's head with her foot.

"Danny, I'm wearing a skirt! Don't carry me backwards!" She mock-reprimanded him. He plopped her down on the floor. All she could see through her skirt was a darker green blob that she assumed was Danny and a light green blob where she assumed the light was. Dani reached up and yanked her skirt back over her head and smoothed it out.

"Ok. . . hot chocolate. . ." Danny said, and yanked open a cupboard. He pulled out a box labeled 'instant hot chocolate' and shook his head. "No. . . we need _real_ hot chocolate. . ."

Dani poked her head in the refrigerator. "There's chocolate milk. . . and chocolate pudding. . . and some chocolate fudge. . . and. . . nope, that's it."

Danny yanked out some bars of chocolate. "We have milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate. Which one?"

Dani paused, considering. "Milk chocolate. Dark chocolate isn't sweet enough and white chocolate is cheating."

"Milk chocolate it is." Danny said, and dumped the other two bars back. He reached past her and stacked the chocolate milk on top of the bowl of fudge and the tupperware container of pudding. He set them on the counter and stared at them for a while.

"Dani, I just realized I have no idea how to make hot chocolate." He said. Dani grinned.

"Neither do I. Let's mix everything together in a big bowl and stick it in the microwave. It makes sense, because all we really need to do is heat up the chocolate and add milk to make it, so the fudge and pudding should help, right?" Dani suggested. Danny nodded sagely, or as sage-like as he got when he was taking suggestions from a girl a year younger than him.

"Ok, that does make sense. So. . . let's get two big mugs. . ." Danny opened another cupboard and yanked out two porcelain mugs and a spoon. He scooped out a large chunk of pudding and fudge and dumped it in first one mug, then the other. Then he broke the bar of chocolate in half, splitting it between the mugs before pouring in the chocolate milk. Dani grabbed both mugs and plopped them in the microwave. She closed the little door and punched in two minutes. The microwave began humming.

It wasn't until two minutes later that they smelled burning chocolate, but by then Danny was too far into his story for either of them to really care.

**BVQA:** Aw, some cute brother sister bonding! How adorable!

**Danny:** I told a story? A good one?

**BVQA:** And none of you will ever know what it was! Isn't that amazing?

**Danny:** Uh. . . no?

**BVQA:** SILENCE! DO NOT QUESTION ME! . . .and speaking of questions, here's one for you reviewers! Milk chocolate, Dark chocolate, or white chocolate?


	12. Chapter 12

**BVQA:** Yeah. . . uh. . . don't really have an excuse for not writing. . . but I'm giving Dani a- _mmph!_

**Dani:** *covers BVQA's mouth* Don't tell them NOW or they won't read the chapter!

Dani's thoughts groggily dragged themselves out of the trash can and poked her brain a couple times. Dani was struck with the sudden realization that she was awake, followed immediately by the violent denial of the aforementioned fact.

_I'm sleeping_. Dani firmly thought. _I'm still asleep._

There was a large _thump_ on her bed that attempted to convince her otherwise, then a voice. Jazz's voice.

"Dani? You're really going to hate me for this, but there's something downstairs that you are not going to want to see but really need to."

But Dani was too busy being asleep.

"Dani, if you don't get up I'm going to get Danny to throw a chunk of ice in your bed. It's only two in the afternoon! If you fall asleep now it'll mess up your sleeping patterns for weeks!"

Sleeping patterns or no sleeping patterns, the only thing that was getting Dani out of bed was a full-scale invasion of reporters. She'd been having a nice dream and really, really wanted to get back to it posthaste.

"Dani!" Jazz yelled right in her ear. "Someone's downstairs offering you your own TV show!"

Suddenly, Dani was feeling wide awake.

LINE BREAK

"Oh, you must be Danielle!" The lady said. Dani looked her up and down. She was wearing a black suit, so she wasn't with the GIW, and her red hair was in twin pigtails- an unusual feature on adults, to say the least. Her eyes were green- not neon like Dani's, but a nice dark color with flecks of gold. Freckles dotted her cheeks, her smile was sincere, and she wasn't caked in makeup like some adults Dani had met. She also wasn't using that 'cutesy' voice that most people used to talk to little kids and she wasn't trying to give Dani candy to bribe her into being her friend.

Dani decided she liked the red-haired lady.

"Can I call you Dani? Or do you have another nick-name you prefer?" The lady asked. Dani smiled.

"Just Dani is fine. What's your name?"

"Katey. With an 'ey', not a 'y' or an 'ie'. Did your older sister already tell you that I want to give you your own TV show?"

Dani nodded. "Yep. Any particular reason _why_ you want to give a kid like me her own television show? I'm not sure what I'd _do_ with a television show, actually. . ."

Katey smiled. "Well, all you'd have to do is show up and be yourself. The camera and lighting crew could handle the rest. All I'd need is an 'ok' from your parents."

Jack poked his head into the room from where Maddy was baking cookies in the kitchen. "We're her parents! We're the most parental parents ever!"

Maddy sighed. Dani could hear her all the way in the living room. "Jack, I'll handle this. . . you have a cookie."

"Yum! Fudgernutter!" Jack exclaimed, and disappeared back into the kitchen. Katey leaned towards Dani and whispered an urgent question.

"Is it always like this over here?"

Dani shrugged. "Pretty much. They're the most loving parents in the world, but a _bit_ quirky. Quirky's ok, though. I mean, I _am_ half ghost."

Maddy walked into the living room, drying her hands on a dishtowel. "So, what's this I hear about you wanting to give Dani her own show? We've been trying to keep her _out_ of the public eye, not catapult her _into_ it."

Katey smiled. "I completely understand. In fact, that's why I want to give her her own show. Dani's little run-in with the press is already plastered all over the media, including several misrepresentations and outright lies. The thing is, if Dani gets her _own_ TV show, the reporters won't have as much to do. If Dani's telling the world about herself, there's not much point in the other reporters going after old news, right?"

Maddy nodded. "I guess. But I want to have Dani's agent look over the contract before we agree to anything."

Dani raised her eyebrows. "I have an agent?" She asked. Maddy laughed under her breath.

"I was talking about Sam, dear."

Dani shrugged. "I think she's pretty lawyered-out, but she might be able to handle some agentry."

"Then it's settled!" Katey exclaimed. She pulled a sheaf of papers out of her pocket and handed them to Dani's mom, adding a business card to the stack a moment later.

"Call me when you're ready to talk, ok? We can get to work whenever you want, and we're absolutely prepared to arrange our schedule to fit yours." Katey beamed at Dani. "You're going to be a star, kid! I've only known you for a few minuets, and I can already tell! You've got a bubbly, infectious personality and you seem prepared to tackle any challenge. Hang onto those traits, Dani. You'll need them."

And with that Katey swept out the door, leaving a general air of cheerfulness behind her. Dani and Maddy looked at each other in silence for a moment, then Maddy spoke.

"So. . . Dani. . ." She began, then they both began shouting at the same time.

"I'm gonna be on TV!" Dani shrieked. "My own show!"

Maddy looked like she was about to start crying tears of joy. "My little girl. . . a star! Katey was right, you know. . . you _do_ have a bubbly personality. I've never met _anyone_ who didn't like you. . . well, except for Vlad."

Dani's mood darkened slightly at the sound of his name. "_Vlad_. . . I wonder what _he's_ up to. . ."

Neither one noticed the small, metallic bug watching their every move from it's vantage-point on the wall.

LINE BREAK

Vlad Masters tapped the computer console with the tips of his gloved fingers. He couldn't believe that Samantha had held up this long against the GIW's best men, but that was all about to change. All he needed was indisputable proof that Dani was committing thefts, and _then_ he could finally claim her as his own. . .

It wasn't so much that he _wanted_ Dani on his side. . . even when she'd been twelve, she'd been a nuisance to his plans. No, the real reason he couldn't stand allowing her to roam free was that she was making waves in the world without even trying. Honestly, if she wanted to get him kicked out of mayor's office then all she would have to do is tell her repulsive fanboys to do so. There were millions of them all over the world, as Dani had the impression of being both easier to approach and just as strong as her genetic original. Vlad shuddered.

"Dani, it seems we have some more work to do destroying your reputation. . ." Vlad said. There was a hiss as twin doors slid open, then a disgusting slurping noise as someone entered the room with a slushy.

"Good. I was getting bored." She said, and Vlad swiveled his chair to face her. The girl brushed her white bangs back from her head and bound her hair up in a ponytail.

"Come on, Dad." Dani Phantom said. "Let's give them all heck!"

**BVQA:** Dun dun dun!


	13. Chapter 13

**BVQA:** Not much to say, other than. . . I updated!

**Dani:** They knew that.

**BVQA:** Uh, I mean. . . um. . .

**Dani:** Beware the story?

**BVQA:** Yeah! _Beware the story!_

"We're all so glad you decided to sign on!" Katey told Dani. Dani nodded.

"Me too." She agreed. She wasn't lying. Katey seemed really, really nice, and Dani knew that she'd be a pleasure to work with.

Dani was curled up on the couch in the living room, Katey sitting in the chair opposite her. Her parents were blowing something up in the basement, since Dani had told them that she would go get them if she needed help.

"When can we start filming for the first show?" Katey asked. Dani shrugged.

"I'm free until. . . three PM today." She suggested. Katey grinned.

"Great. I'll call the limo."

"Ok!" Dani said. "I'm going to go get my shoes and let my parents know where I'm going."

It wasn't until she was halfway up the stairs that Dani thought, _Did she say limo?_

LINE BREAK

_Yeah, she said limo alright. . ._ Dani thought. She felt ridiculous, standing beside such a sleek car in her black boots, red pants, and blue hoodie. Any relief she _would_ have felt at having left her red hat behind was erased by the fact that she _still_ hadn't brushed her hair.

An immediate remedy was to duck into the limo as fast as humanly possible, so Dani did so. Katey was already seated next to her, and as the limo began to pull away from Fentonworks she began to speak.

"So, Dani, what sort of ideas did you have for this show?"

Dani shrugged. "I don't know. I thought that was up to you."

Katey nodded. "Ok, but if you come up with anything just let me know."

"Sure." Dani agreed. "Are we going to have a theme song?"

"Of corse!" Katey said. "What's a show without a theme song?"

Dani hesitated. "Uh, I think it's still a show. . ." Dani noticed the look in Katey's eyes and quickly followed with, "Uh, that was a rhetorical question, wasn't it? Sorry."

Katey just shrugged it off. "Anyway, I can't decide between upbeat and cheerful and dark and mysterious. What do you think?"

Dani hesitated. "I don't know. . . I mean, I like cheerful songs, but I also like creepy ones. . . can I think about it?"

Katey nodded. "Sure. I think we should show you our studio first."

LINE BREAK

"Wow. . ." Dani breathed. "This is amazing!"

Katey laughed quietly as she stepped up behind Dani. "I almost forgot you'd never seen a closet this big before."

Dani would have spun to face her if she hadn't been busy staring ahead of her. "_This_ is a _closet?_" She asked. Rows and rows of dresses, coats, shirts, pants, and assorted accessories stretched into infinity in the distance. Small piles of shoes dotted the landscape, and Dani gasped as she saw glittering jewelry tossed everywhere like sprinkles on a cupcake.

"This is _amazing_. . ." Dani said.

"Well, I'm glad you think so." Came a voice in front of Dani. Dani squinted, but couldn't see anyone until they stepped out from behind a rack of clothes and into the light.

"Hi! You must be Dani." The girl said. said. Dani studied her. She had short brown shoulder-length hair that spun into corkscrew curls. She wore a dark blue suit, but Dani's eyes were drawn to her watch. It wasn't fancy, just a waterproof blob of plastic covering a digital screen, but that wasn't what Dani found interesting. Safety pins, probably twenty or more, were threaded through the holes in the watchband. The girl noticed Dani's stare and grinned, deep brown eyes seeming to share a private joke with Dani.

"This is Abigail, our resident. . ." Katey hesitated, finally settling on, "Mad genius. Basically she takes care of hair, makeup, and clothing. . . and anything else she can get her hands on."

Abigail smirked. "You can call me Abi. . . or just 'that crazy lady who does my hair.' Whichever."

Katey turned to Dani. "I've got to go take care of paperwork, which is my job. . . and Abi's going to do hers, which is getting you ready to film. Ok?"

Dani nodded and followed Abi deep into the 'closet'. Abi hummed as she pulled various dresses from the racks, looked at them for a moment, then casually threw them on the floor and continued down the row.

"Shouldn't we pick these up?" Dani called after her.

"I'll do it later!" Abi yelled back, then stopped dead and pulled a blue camouflage jacket out from the rack and threw it to Dani. A few steps later she found a red tank top and deep blue jeans, then thigh-high lace-up red all-star high-tops. She pushed all the articles of clothing into Dani's arms and pushed her towards a door in the wall.

"Change. You. Now. There." She said. Dani really didn't see any point in arguing, so she did as she was. . . directed. She couldn't really say that Abi had _told_ her to do so, since that would involve a full sentence being used.

A few minutes later, Dani stepped outside and Abi clapped her hands together in delight.

"Perfect!" She said. "Now, put your other clothes on the table while I go get the hair and makeup stuff!"

Dani watched to see how long she could see Abi, but lost track after a few moments. Jeez, there were a _lot_ of clothes in this room. It was a wonder Abi could find _anything_. Maybe that was why she tossed things onto the floor, so she could remember the way to the exit.

Dani plopped her hoodie and jeans on the table and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She didn't look half bad. The different color blues in the half-length jacket reflected her sundry blue eye color, an effect that Dani decided she rather liked. Besides that jacket it wasn't all that different from what she'd been wearing before, but it looked strangely. . . cooler. The jeans looked as if they'd been sewed together a minute before she'd put them on, and the shirt looked like the red you saw in cartoons: too red to last in the real world before being dulled down to a brick color.

"I'm back!" Abi shouted. She was carrying a hairbrush in one hand and a pile of ribbons, buttons and makeup cases in her other. In a few swift motions, she'd swept Dani's black hair off her forehead and behind her ears, where she pinned one side up with a red bow and let the other hang, strangely glossy, in front of Dani's right eye. A blue button was pressed to the center of the red bow, and suddenly two clip-on blue button earrings were dangling from her earlobes.

"Eyes. Close. No moving." Abi said. Dani obliged. She felt something soft sweep her eyelids and cheeks, and when she glanced into the mirror she saw that both eyes were covered by red eyeshadow and her cheeks had a healthy red blush clinging to them. Dani couldn't hide her grin.

"Done!" Abi exclaimed, then began steering Dani towards a third door.

"Ok, I'm done, go see the set crew!" Abi commanded. "Time to start shooting your theme song, then you go live on TV."

"Live?" Dani squeaked. Suddenly she was missing the explosions at Fentonworks. . .

**BVQA:** Ok, quick poll! What's Dani's theme song? ANSWER OR I WON'T BE ABLE TO UPDATE!


	14. Chapter 14

**BVQA:** Well, turns out most of the ideas were 'same as Danny's'.

**Dani:** I resent that!

**BVQA:** Anyway, after banging my head against the wall several times I gave up on the theme song and decided to skip it a little. SORRY!

"Live television!" Dani shrieked. "_Live_ television?"

"Dani, you're overreacting." Katey told her. For inexplicable reasons, Katey had been waiting for Dani outside the costuming area in case Dani got lost in the five steps it took to get to the filming room. Which was clearly labeled 'filming room' by a sign in black sharpie. How dumb did they think people could be?

"I'm not overreacting!" Dani shouted. "_Live_ television! _Live!_"

"Yes, you've made that abundantly clear." Katey said, then caught the look in Dani's eyes. "Look, it won't _actually_ be live. Since you're a kid, we decided we'd cheat a little. There's a small gap in the time it takes to beam a television signal all around the world-"

"_World?_" Dani squeaked. This wasn't helping. This was the opposite of helping.

"Yes, the world. Anyway, we're going to lengthen that gap a little- not too much of a difference, but plenty of time for us to cut to commercials if you need us to."

Dani really needed to start breathing again and so she did, trying very hard not to choke on the air she was taking in. She might not mess up that badly today. What a relief.

"Anyway, there's still a gap of time before we go semi-live, so if you wouldn't mind there's a crew of prompters waiting to talk to you in the filming room. . ." Katey gestured towards the door.

Dani took five steps forward. . .

. . .and her life spun out of control.

DANCE BREAK

Dani was having trouble sitting comfortably because of the pencil in her pocket that was poking her no matter where she sat. She couldn't exactly remember why she had a pencil in her pocket, but she had some other things to think about right then as she sat in a big, cushy, blue armchair and stared at the big, cushy, _green_ armchair directly opposite. Dani had a theory going that media people were completely insane, and the filming room was a good basis of fact. Half of the room- the half that the cameras were currently pointing at- was decorated in blue, red, white, and black. The other half, while completely identical when it came to the furniture, was splattered with neon green, white, and black. The chair she was sitting in was mirrored- down to the last stitch- in exact _green_ replica. Dani half expected a second her to be sitting over on the other side of the room.

And if she ever mastered her duplicating abilities, that was a distinct possibility.

"What's wrong? You look a bit freaked out." Katey asked Dani, strolling over. "You aren't still worried about the whole 'live television' thing, are you?"

Dani shook her head. "Too. Freaky. Why is the room like this?"

Katey smiled and perched next to Dani on a black armchair- mirrored on the other side by a white one. "Oh, we just thought it would be cool if when you were in human mode you'd sit over here, and when you were over there you'd be in ghost mode."

Dani nodded slowly. "Ok. . . still creepy, but now that I know _why_ it's creepy I'm _slightly_ less creeped out."

"Oh good! I helped!" Katey grinned. "We have a thingie set up so that if you 'go ghost' in the middle of a show, the cameras will fade in the other room with white light. We just single you out- like with a green-screen- and flip to the other side of the room and put the whole thing on pause while you walk over."

Dani hesitated. "Is it ok if I have no idea what you just said?"

Katey glanced back and forth, then whispered, "To tell you the truth, I don't know either."

Dani giggled, then saw bright lights switching on. She looked around wildly and was almost blinded.

"Oops, you gotta go." Katey said. "I'm supposed to introduce you first, then you come in."

Dani nodded hurriedly and stood to go. The pencil in her pocket was driving her insane, so as she stood she dropped it on a side table she passed on the way out.

Then the shouting started.

"We're live in three. . . two. . . one!"

Katey smiled broadly at the cameras and began. "Hi!" She said in a voice dripping with cheer. "I'm Katey. Some of you might recognize me from my 'life and times of modern heros' shows, but today I won't be talking about any superheros at all."

There was a loud groan from the speakers positioned just off camera. Dani figured it was like a laugh track, but less happy.

"Because," Katey continued, "One of them will be speaking to you! Everybody please welcome Danielle Phantom!"

Dani took a deep breath and stepped out into the spotlights. They immediately swarmed on her as she sat down in the blue armchair she'd just gotten out of, and she felt herself criticizing her every move. Even sitting down was a hassle- she wanted to curl up on the fluffy pillows but instead sat awkwardly with her legs crossed and hands folding themselves over and over in her lap.

The cheers were deafening. Even though Dani knew they weren't real and they were just coming from the speakers she couldn't help but blush. She lifted one of her hands in a sort of half-wave and someone cranked the volume on the speaker, showering her in approval. Dani was scared to talk until the noise had died down.

"Uh. . . hi. . . I'm Dani-with-an-i Fenton-Phantom. But I guess you already knew that. . ." There was a big, red, flashing light going off in her brain telling her that she should be panicking, but she was trying her hardest to ignore it. It was like trying to ignore an elephant sitting in the chair next to her.

"I. . . well, I don't exactly think I'm a _superhero_. . . I just think I'm a kid trying the best she can with what she's got."

Katey smiled encouragingly. "Well, that's very modest of you. Tell me, what does it feel like to-"

That was as far as Katey got before the GIW stormed in.

"Danielle Fenton-Phantom, you're under arrest!" Yelled the first agent.

"And this time we have a warrant!" The second one yelled. Dani was about to protest that she hadn't done anything when she felt a sting on her neck. She lifted her hand to her neck and pulled out a white dart. . .

And fell into blackness.


	15. Chapter 15

**BVQA:** I'M SO SORRY!

**Dani:** She really is!

**BVQA:** I TRIED SO HARD TO UPDATE BUT IT DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHAT I WANTED AND THE SITUATION WAS OUT OF MY CONTROL PLEASE FORGIVE ME! *bursts into tears*

**Dani:** Gotta love those hormones. But she really is sorry, people! And she made this chapter extra-long!

Dani sat on the floor in a dark room. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, and she heard a strange noise rushing through her ears. She didn't know how long she'd been there, only that it was starting to get really old. She couldn't even see her own hands in the darkness, much less figure out where she was. The floor felt like concrete, but that wasn't much help in deciphering her location. Unless. . .

Fear gripped Dani like someone was pulling her heart out. She started hyperventilating. Her pulse fluttered in her ears and she started to shiver.

No.

Not in Vlad's lab.

She couldn't be. . . right?

Too dark to tell. . .

Dani's hand reached to the pendant hanging around her neck and clamped tightly around it. This caused her weight to shift backwards and her other hand- the left one- shot backwards and pressed against the floor to stop herself from falling. She felt something cold and wet around her fingers and yanked them back, shrieking. A moment later the wetness climbed her feet and she stood up, panicking. Now she realized what the odd sound had been.

Water. Someone was trying to drown her.

"Help!" She shouted, but her words caught under the pounding surf and were dragged under. She took to the air, but the water chased after her and pulled at her knees, her waist, until Dani finally had the sense to try turning intangible to phase through the water. It didn't work. In her panic, Dani just managed to break free. As she peered upwards into the darkness she saw a small pinpoint of light. The only question was if she could make it or not.

She fought. The water kept closing over her toes but Dani always pulled up, fighting harder, and the light kept growing brighter and brighter. Then. . .

"Don't go that way."

Dani nearly had a heart attack from shock but only stopped flying momentarily.

"Who. . . who's there?" Dani asked. She wasn't really expecting a reply- these kinds of voices never answered back. She was right, too. It was the distinct echo that gave it away, that and the fact that there was no visible speaker. Of corse, Dani couldn't see herself either, and _she_ would have answered.

"Don't go that way," the voice repeated, "Because if you do, you won't ever come back. You have people who'll miss you if you don't come back, and it isn't time for you to go."

Time or not, if Dani slowed down she would drown. Intangibility made it possible to breathe underwater, but that wasn't working right now. Flight was the only one of her powers that was functioning.

"You're not flying, Dani."

Dangit. The oh-so-mysterious voice could read her mind. If she wasn't flying, then what was she doing?

"You're falling. You need to turn around."

Dani, frustrated, noticed the white prick of light was barely bigger than when she'd started. She flung this frustration at the nearest target- the dramatic voice that was still bothering her.

"If I turn around I'll fly straight into a concrete floor!"

"You're_ not _flying, Dani. You're falling." The voice repeated.

Dani gritted her teeth and pulled back, turning around. She dragged in a deep breath and plunged into the frigid water. Her last thought before she placed her full concentration on staying alive was that the voice had better be right.

Cold.

Wet.

Those were the only feelings Dani could hold onto as she was spun through the water. It was rough, pushing her in circles and threatening to bang her into walls that Dani could just barely sense. It was harder to battle her way downwards/upwards, but she managed. Her fingers lost feeling first, then her nose and arms and legs. Ever since she'd gotten her ice powers, the cold had barely affected her. She'd been terrified that her powers seemed to be on the blink, but now though, she was glad they were. She could feel herself being smashed against walls like it was happening to a character on a far-off TV, a pain that would be much worse if she'd still retained feeling in her body.

Then she opened her eyes to a brilliant white light. There, just above the surface. She could make it. She clawed her way out of the darkness and pulled herself back into consciousness. It was a fight.

But it was one she chose.

"-not sure if she was going to make it, but she's waking up now. Look, her breathing's back to normal."

"Yeah, but that wasn't what I was worried about. We don't need another problem kid, and we don't even know all this kid's powers yet."

The two voices Dani first heard upon reentry to the land of the living sounded familiar with each other, but irritated, as if they had fallen into a pattern of bickering and felt no need to change things. Dani didn't feel like opening her eyes just yet, and soaked up the details. The first voice? Male. Deep. Probably an adult. Second? Female. About the same age. Annoyed about something. Dani wished she'd heard the beginning of the conversation.

"Don't call them 'powers', call them 'mutations'." The first voice had a mocking cast to it now. "These kids aren't 'special', they're freaks."

"Just wake the kid up." The second voice said, less annoyed and more depressed. Dani felt hands grasp her shoulders and a second later an electrical charge zipped through her body. She screamed and sat up, eyes flying open. The first thing that struck her was how _white_ everything was. White walls, white floors, white ceiling, white lab coats, white restraints. . .

Lab coats?

Restraints?

Dani went on autopilot, thrashing back and forth. Her mind flashed back to Vlad's lab, and she fought harder. She didn't want to have to deal with that again, not ever. Dani could feel the restraints- white plastic cuffs reinforced with anti-ghost energy- digging into her skin, tearing it, and the rational part of her mind reminded her that there was no way she could break them without her powers, but she shoved that part away. Ectoplasm- cool, wet, and terrifying- smeared over her hands, her wrists, the table-

A second shock, harsher than the first, and Dani went down all over again, panting. The world grew hazy, and the overhead lights burned into her retinas. So Dani shut her eyes tightly, blocking out the world. The gashes on her wrists didn't hurt, but Dani knew that was too good to last. In a few minutes they'd be burning in agony.

"Alright, stop flailing around." The man's voice said. "We don't have time for this. Are you going to play nice, or do we have to sedate you again?"

Dani's electricity-addled brain couldn't think of a sensible comeback, so she just shook her head. "No sedative. . ." She murmured.

"That's what we like to hear." The woman's voice this time. "Sit up."

Dani tried. She really did. But when she moved her wrists pain shot up her arms and looped around her heart, tightening in little twists of pure torture. She whimpered, clenching her hands into fists and feeling her fingers slide around in ectoplasm. "My wrists hurt." She whispered.

"And who's fault is that?" The man asked. Dani gritted her teeth. She wasn't going to betray any weakness in front of these people. She was going to be strong. Like Danny. Like Sam. Like Tucker. Like Jazz. Like her mom and dad. Dani arched her back, pulling herself up without using her arms, rocking back and forth until she pulled herself upright. She opened her eyes and gazed down at herself, noting the restraining system. The cuffs around her wrists were ridiculously tight, while the ones around her feet were looser, making it possible for her to sit up without being able to lift her ams. Right now the cuffs on her legs were resting around her thighs, and her hands- drenched green- were making her hunch forwards slightly. The next thing Dani noticed was that she was still in ghost mode, even though she felt none of the energy that she normally would. She scowled. They were blocking her powers.

The man and woman standing next to her were typical GIW goons- white suits, dark glasses, and perpetual scowls. Dani's face, for the moment, matched theirs. Kidnapping her was not a way to get onto her good side.

"What are you going to do to me?" Dani growled.

"Don't talk to us like that, freak." The gal-in-white growled back.

Dani hissed at them. She wasn't entirely sure why she did, it just seemed to suit the situation. Never mind that it was probably just proving them right that she was a freak, or that it wasn't a very good comeback. Who cared? There were just some people that needed to be hissed at, no matter what the consequences. And Dani was proud of her hissing ability- she'd once had an argument with Maddy the cat that consisted entirely of her trying to hiss louder than the white fluff-ball of evil. She'd won, too, and was glad her skill hadn't deteriorated. The two Guys In White, for their part, jumped back in surprise. Dani had to hide a grin.

A moment later the poker face became effortless when there was no more grin to hide, since it's hard to smile when there's a small army of Guys In White crowding into the room you happen to be chained up in. Dani had to focus in order to breathe correctly. A single operative- Agent K- walked up to her and held out a white prison uniform. It was an odd piece of clothing, and Dani examined it with a skeptical eye. It was almost like a jumpsuit, except it's arms- rather than ending in openings- ended in fingerless gloves, and the legs- rather than ending at a reasonable length- ended in toe socks. It looked rather ridiculous.

"Put it on." Agent K instructed, and Dani's eyebrows leapt up to her hairline.

"Now?" She asked innocently. The other agent- agent what's-his-name- apparently took it as a challenge.

"You _will_ put on this jumpsuit, or we will have to sedate you so that you won't wake up until your trial! Our job it to protect the population of the earth, _not_ to babysit you until your full custody is handed over to us! Now, _put on the jumpsuit_!"

Dani shut her eyes briefly so she could roll them skyward in the privacy of her own skull. "Did you miss the fact that I'm _chained to the table_? How about the little thing about me being a girl and not wanting to change in front of a room full of boys? Or didn't you notice that? I would've thought the long hair was a dead give-away." Dani tossed her head, flipping her long white tresses in a smooth motion usually only found in shampoo commercials. She noticed everyone in the room tracking its motion involuntarily, as if it was hypnotic. Maybe they viewed it as a threat.

"You will be escorted to a room of rest for no longer than a sixty second interval. Now get moving!" Agent K snapped. There was a click as the cuffs holding Dani down snapped open- all except one which stayed clamped around her left wrist, rendering her powerless. The gal-in-white grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and pushed her into an adjoining bathroom. Dani tumbled to the ground, gritting her teeth against the pain in her jarred wrists. A moment later the white jumpsuit landed on top of her with a plop, and the door slammed shut. Dani scrambled to her feet and locked it before sagging down against it and breathing a sigh of relief.

Dani gently touched her still-bleeding wrists, feeling the holes where the cuffs had torn through the spandex gloves to the flesh beneath. Dani peeled off the remaining flaps of fabric- they'd been shredded beyond any possible use. The boots were the next to go- she could put them on over the jumpsuit- and finally the remnants of her crime-busting outfit gave way to the stupid prison uniform. Dani had a bit of trouble getting the fingerless gloves to fit under the stupid cuff, and in a moment her fingers were submerged in ectoplasm. Rolling her eyes, Dani yanked off the top of the jumpsuit and grabbed one of her old gloves- the white one that was slightly less damaged. She quickly ripped it into strips of cloth and bandaged the cuts on both her wrists.

There was furious banging on the door.

"What's taking so long, freak?" Agent K shouted.

"I'm a girl! We take a while to change!" Dani called back. There were some click-y noises as agent K attempted to force the door open, but the lock held. Dani smiled and took her time getting the prison uniform on. It was likely to be the only alone time she was going to get for a while.

The bathroom didn't have a mirror in it, so Dani was unable to take a look at how much dirt and grit had gotten into her hair and on her face while she'd been out. She was, however, able to give herself a once-over to check for any new injuries. Aside from a couple of bruises she seemed ok. . . one on both her ankles, probably caused from being thrown into restraints, and a thin red line of pain around her neck-

Wait, where was her necklace?

Dani's hands flew to her throat, and she let out a sigh of relief as her hands found a small silver figure. The silver chain holding it had tightened to a thin circlet, probably the only thing that had kept the Guys In White from removing it. Dani gently hooked her thumbs under the chain, pulling slowly outwards to loosen the chokehold it had her in. She then patted down the pockets of her old jumpsuit and found her iPod- another thing her captors hadn't discovered. Rather than put it in her pocket, where it would definitely be found, Dani dropped the piece of machinery into her boot. Now that she had her iPod, she felt that she could deal with solitary confinement. Dani exited the bathroom with a small, satisfied smile on her face.

It didn't last long. The first thing that met her gaze was the Gal In White, wielding a pair of scissors. Dani realized, a second too late, that her hair was probably not up to the prison's standard length. Or, to be more accurate, not _below_ it.

"Oh, no," Dani said, backing away. "You are _not_ putting those things anywhere near my hair. Nuh-uh."

Dani spun on her heel with the full intention of racing back into the bathroom, but suddenly found herself unable to move. Dani's brow furrowed and she put real effort into moving, trying her hardest to push forwards. The only things that moved were her fingers.

"What the heck. . ?" Dani asked. Agent K entered her field of vision, grinning. He was holding a device in his hand that held a red button in the exact center.

"Does this answer your question, ghost girl?" He asked smugly.

"Uh. . . no, not really," Dani replied.

Agent K's eye twitched, but he quickly covered it up by turning and walking around her dramatically.

"That jumpsuit you're wearing is made out of a very. . . _special_ material. Not only does it take away a ghost's energy, but at the touch of this button it hardens instantly, rendering you defenseless. Any more questions?"

"Yes," Dani said. "Can you stop walking around me in circles? It's making me dizzy."

Dani figured it was at that point that Agent K gave up and just gave the order for her hair to be cut. She had no way of really telling, however, because the moment she felt hands in her hair, tugging at the green ribbon pulling it back, she fell into shock. In a second, her hair tumbled down in loose waves to her waist. She watched it, unable to do more than just stare in horror as long strands of her pearly white main tumbled to the ground, clipped roughly off her head.

This was the wakeup call to Dani. She was no longer in control of the situation, hadn't been for a while, but she was only now realizing exactly how bad things were. As each chunk of her hair drifted to flop loosely on the ground, she could feel her lifelines being cut. Dani wasn't sure what happened next- just that she found herself in her cell when she finally brought herself back to the world. Shaking hands found her hair, feeling where it fell to barely below her shoulders.

The sobs came then, when she was alone in a strange room far away from home. One hand came up to wrap around the tiny silver figure hanging around her neck, and she sobbed harder. The other hand pulled her iPod out of her boot, setting it to a familiar song.

"Do you know what's worth fighting for, when it's not worth dying for? Does it take your breath away, and you feel yourself suffocating? Does the pain weigh out the pride, and you look for a place to hide? Did someone break your heart inside?

"You're in ruins. . ."

Dani sucked in a ragged breath and joined in on the chorus.

"One, twenty-one guns! Lay down your arms, give up the fight. One, twenty-one guns! Throw up your arms into the sky. You and I. . ."

Dani smiled a little and shut off the song, scrubbing the remains of tears off her face. No use crying now. She could hold out until Danny got there, surely. He'd know how to fix everything.

And that was when Youngblood's face poked through the wall and grinned at Dani.

"_There_ you are!" He exclaimed.

**Dani:** Well, there you have it.

**BVQA:** I feel so bad, I'm about to try something never before attempted by an author here!

**Dani:** Not ending with a cliffie?

**BVQA:** No, not that. I'm asking. . . no, _begging_ all you good people out there to please, _please_ flame me! I AM BEGGING YOU! It'll make me feel better about having missed to many updates!

**Dani:** . . .well, you've finally lost it.

**BVQA:** I'M SO SORRY! *starts crying again*


	16. Chapter 16

**BVQA****:** Ok, just a warning- Dani is going to meet a lot of ghosts in this chapter. I will try to keep them IC. Dani is going to get along well with most of them, even Danny's enemies. Please note that this has nothing to do with her being naive! Dani is just a very likable person who sees the best in others. . . and can be a bit stupid when it comes to trust, let's be honest here.

**Dani:** *returns from her bathroom break in time to hear the last bit of that previous statement* Wait, WHAT?

**BVQA:** Uh. . . Nothing. . .

**Dani:** I'll hurt you!

**BVQA:** AAH! She's got a stake! Stop it, Dani! If you kill me before the story's over you'll be trapped in limbo for all eternity! HELP!

Dani's eyes widened and she nearly had a heart attack from shock.

"Youngblood⁈" She shouted. He grinned, then phased the rest of the way through the wall. Dani immediately enveloped him in a giant hug. "How did you find me?" She asked, stepping back.

"Well, it wasn't easy. Do you have any idea how many GIW bases there are?" Youngblood asked. Dani smiled, shrugging, then noticed that Youngblood wasn't dressed up as anyone- not as a pirate, or an astronaut, or a cowboy. Instead, he was wearing decked out in black and ectoplasmic green- green jeans with black pockets sewn on all over, black shirt with green accents and a green 'YB' in the center, and sporty black and green sneakers. He noticed her looking and smiled sheepishly.

"It's my deathday today, so I don't wanna pretend to be anyone but myself."

Dani's brows knitted in confusion as she stood up. "Your deathday? But that's not until-" Understanding dawned on Dani and she flinched in horror. "Youngblood. . . how long have I been here?" Youngblood avoided Dani's gaze and opened his mouth to reply, but Dani caught the glint in his eyes that said he was about to fib it up. "Don't you dare lie to me, Youngblood."

Youngblood visibly deflated. "A week?" He said meekly. Dani resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall. The GIW had kept her sedated for a _week_? Who knew what had happened while she'd been out?

Youngblood- apparently guessing her thought process- hastily began filling her in. "Don't worry, not _too_ much has changed. There hasn't been a nuclear war or a zombie apocalypse or anything. It's just a week! I was stuck at the bottom of the ocean for almost a _month _one time, and the only thing that changed was a _slight_ invasion of the Ghost King." Dani was far from placated. "Uh. . . bad example. Anyway, the point is that nothing too major happened. The media is all over this- it's even topping the latest celebrity divorce- but there isn't anything concrete yet. Apparently you're being accused of robbing banks and museums and stuff."

"But I didn't-" Dani began.

"I _know_ you didn't." Youngblood said. "The problem with that accusation is that several eyewitnesses saw you in other places at the times of the robberies- but other eyewitnesses saw you there! People are saying you must have figured out how to duplicate, but that's only a theory of theirs. They can't prove it. But you can't _dis_prove it, either."

Dani nodded, taking it all in. "What about my brother?"

Youngblood's eyes flicked upwards and Dani noticed- for the first time- a hidden microphone on the wall. The entire conversation was being snooped on! It was lucky that Youngblood had noticed before Dani had, or they'd be down one secret identity.

"Well, Danny _Phantom_ has been MIA since you got captured." Youngblood replied, and Dani's heart plummeted. Did that mean. . ?

"But that's only because no ghosts have bothered attacking the city," Youngblood continued with a cheerful wink. "Danny _Fenton_, on the other hand, has never been busier. He's been organizing protests with Sam, meeting with 'important' grown-ups, and generally working his butt off. Spazz- I mean, _Jazz_ had to ask for my help to tie him to the bed to get him to sleep. It was fun."

Dani chuckled along with Youngblood. Same old Danny. "What sort of protests?" Dani asked. Youngblood smirked.

"He and a group of kids from school have gone on strike." He replied. Dani raised her eyebrows.

"On strike?"

"Oh, you know," Youngblood said in a faked offhand manner, "Not going to school, refusing to do chores, not bathing, not eating their vegetables. . ."

Dani couldn't help herself. She busted out laughing, rolling around on the floor. Youngblood continued, though it was obvious he was struggling not to join Dani on the ground.

"I think my favorite slogan of theirs is, 'give the ghost girl liberty, or we're still playing hooky'! It's that or, 'let Dani win or the trash stays in'! This past week has almost been as fun as my last deathday party."

After a few more moments, Dani's laughter dried up. She realized that she'd let Youngblood down by not being able to go to his party, since she was the only other kid he knew that was his own age. Sort of. She hadn't asked him what year he'd been born in yet. Still, it was irrelevant.

"I'm sorry about not being able to go to your party." Dani said. "I'm kind of stuck here, though. Thanks for taking time out of your special day to come looking for me, but you should really go have fun now. I'll be fine."

Youngblood stared at her in confusion, then a smile split his face again. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to tell you. I figured that if you couldn't come to my party, I'd bring the party to you!"

Dani didn't get a chance to ask him what the bleep he was talking about before what looked like roughly the entire ghost zone entered the hallway outside her cell door.

LINE BREAK I COULD BE TOTALLY EVIL AND END HERE BUT I STILL FEEL BAD ABOUT LAST TIME

After Dani stopped hyperventilating, she had the presence of mind to actually _count_ the number of ghosts outside of her cell. It was a significantly lower number than she'd originally thought. Dani barely recognized any of them, but she was happy to note that neither Walker nor Vlad was there. Good. Dani didn't like them. Dani vaguely knew the other ghosts from TV, but she was well aware that the media is evil and not to be trusted with names. Just look at the one Danny got handed- 'Inviso-Bill'. Talk about embarrassing.

"Ok! This is a party, people! Let's get the decorations up and tick off some Guys In White!" Youngblood shouted, and. . . well. . . people started putting up decorations. It was Youngblood's Deathday. People didn't really feel like arguing with him. A girl ghost with long, spiky green hair, red eyes, purple lipstick and eyeliner, pale blue skin, and a red, purple, black, and green outfit dumped a box of decorations on the ground. Dani figured she would be a good person to introduce herself to to start with- she didn't have any dangerous-looking claws or fangs or whatever. As Dani made her way over the ghost was joined by a blonde-haired green-eyed biker ghost that would have passed as normal on a street corner- if the other people glowed and had shadows with green eyes and fangs. The two ghosts were chatting as Dani approached, and she caught the tail end of the conversation as she drifted into ear range.

". . .probably shouldn't be helping with the decorations. You know, with my shadow and all." The biker ghost said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh, come on, honey. You can still help!" The girl ghost said sweetly in an obvious effort to cheer him up. "You can give me a hand with the streamers. Nothing can go wrong with streamers."

"That's what you said about our first date, and we all know how _that_ turned out." The biker ghost said- but he smiled as he said it, the girl ghost's comment having worked. Dani figured this was a good time to introduce herself.

"Hi!" She said cheerfully, and both ghosts looked up in annoyance.

"Oh, it's just Phantom's brat." The biker ghost growled, and the girl ghost smacked him on the arm.

"Johnny, be nice." She reprimanded, and gave Dani a smile that was only a few centimeters short of a grin. "My names Kitty, and this adorable grouch is my boyfriend Johnny 13." Kitty held out her hand, which Dani shook enthusiastically. Johnny just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Will you go away now?" He asked gruffly. Dani's smile drooped a little.

"Sorry," she said. "I was just trying to be friendly." Johnny looked at her hurt puppy face and, sighing irritably, grudgingly held out his hand.

"Let's just get this straight," Johnny said as they shook hands, "I don't like your brother. . .s. Got that? He. . . _they_ keep kicking me and my girl out of the human realm even when we're not doing anything wrong."

Dani nodded in sympathy. "He tends to get a bit. . . overprotective. . . sometimes. He's really nice when you get to know him, though!"

Johnny made a small annoyed grunt in response, but Dani caught him smiling slightly as he turned back to the box of decorations. "I'll take your word for that." He said, and tossed Dani a roll of black streamers. He handed Kitty a roll of tape and grabbed some green streamers for himself.

"So. . . how did you come by a name like Johnny '13'?" Dani asked as he unrolled a length of streamer and flew up to the ceiling to stick it in one corner.

"I'm really, really unlucky." He replied. Kitty ripped off a piece of tape and passed it to Dani, who in turn passed it to Johnny.

"Oh, I'm sure it's not all _that_ bad." Dani tried to cheer Johnny up, but he just shook his head.

"_Really_ unlucky." He said, joining her back on the floor. "As in, If I touch something it's doomed to stop working."

Dani was about to make another attempt at convincing him otherwise when the roll of streamers in his hands fell to pieces. Dani's mouth hung open for a long moment. Then a new ghost approached and she shut it.

"I can take over here, Johnny. Why don't you go help pick out music?" The new ghost girl said as she took the roll of tape from Kitty. The new ghost had pale white skin, green eyes, and flaming blue hair. Black eyeliner spiraled from the corners of her eyes, and her purple lipstick matched Kitty's. She wore an asymmetrical top that left her midriff bare and black pants held up by a slanting studded belt. Her feet were encased in silver platform boots and she wore a glove on just one of her hands. Her ears held two rows of purple earrings.

"Isn't that_ your_ department_,_ Ember?" Johnny asked hotly, tossing the wrecked streamers aside.

"Wait. . . Ember? Like Ember McLain?" Dani asked. "I've heard of you!"

"I've heard of you too, babypop. You're the dipstick's little sister, right?" Ember asked. Then, to Johnny, "Just go entertain Youngblood for a while and try not to touch anything. He needs a babysitter." Ember waved distractedly over to where Youngblood was digging through a pile of CDs, tapes, and even the occasional record. Johnny crossed his arms but did as he was told. Kitty waved goodbye to Dani as she went to join him.

"You know my brother?" Dani asked Ember, immediately before realizing it was a stupid question. Then she also realized she'd referred to one brother. . . _singular_. . . and hastily repaired the damage. "Ss. Brother_s__._ With an 's' on the end. You know, plural."

"I get it." Ember rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know him. . _them_. But we're not on good terms. I'm OK with you, though. If you don't try to shove me in that stupid thermos."

"Deal!" Dani happily agreed. The next few minutes were spent in semi-companionable silence as Ember and Dani filled the room with black streamers. Dani was just about to ask Ember what it was like to be a teen idol when a thunderous noise filled the room. Dani jumped a foot in the air and spun on her heels in time to see a ten-foot-tall green ghost dog burst through the wall, scattering ghosts like bowling pins. Dani realized it was headed straight for her and panicked, pressing back against the wall. What she wouldn't give for intangibility right now. . ! She liked dogs, but ten feet of one was a bit much to stand up against. That, and this dog had really sharp teeth and claws. . .

"Stay!" Dani shouted. To her utter surprise, it worked. The dog skidded to a halt an inch in front of her, and Dani breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't last long, though, as the dog immediately began a thorough sniff check of her, wet black nose soaking her in doggy snot. Dani caught a glance at Youngblood's face over the dog's shoulder. He was making no attempt to hide the smirk on his face.

"Not. One. Word." She growled at him. His smile just widened.

The green dog finally finished sniffing her over and, sitting back on its haunches, managed to look very confused without changing its expression. Then, somehow managing to shrug its huge shoulders, gave Dani a ginormous, slobbery lick before shrinking down to puppy size and jumping into Dani's arms. Dani, for her part, took the unexpected bath in stride and simply rolled her eyes before giving the little puppy a hug.

"I think I'm gonna call you Cujo." Dani decided. At this, Youngblood bust out laughing, rolling on the ground littered with now-decimated decorations. "What?" Dani snapped. Youngblood gasped for air, unable to answer.

"Perhaps you and the Great One have even more in common than you believe." A voice to her right said. Dani turned and saw a yeti-like ghost with a kind smile and an arm made of ice. He was wearing a gold and blue cape/kilt ensemble, something that made him look both regal and savage. "I am Frostbite, leader of the far frozen, and I believe your brother named that dog 'Cujo' as well." Frostbite ruffled Cujo's fur and the dog groaned happily. "He's quite attached to the Great One- and as I recall, he's quite a good judge of character."

Dani sat down and scratched Cujo behind the ears. "He's cute." She decided. Then, "Great one? My brother?"

"Merely my people's name for him, Wandering Princess." Frostbite replied.

"Princess? Me?" Dani asked in the tone of voice that suggested that she expected to wake up very soon. "I'm just Dani. With an i."

"Trust me, you are much more, Wandering Princess." Frostbite declared. Before Dani could ask him what the heck he was talking about he turned and walked off. "I look forwards to speaking with you again!" He called back to her. Dani waved faintly at him. Unfortunately for her, the rest of the afternoon was not going to be any less strange.

**BVQA: ***Stops running from Dani long enough to do the end-of-chapter author's note* Dani'll meet the rest of the ghosts in the next chapter. But for now, that's all. I hope they were all IC. . !

**Dani:** I found you! DIE! *stabs with wooden stake*

**BVQA:** Oh, now look what you did. *looks around as the world goes black* You trapped us both in limbo for all eternity. Nice going, smart one.

**Dani:** Uh. . oops. . . heh, we're not really trapped for ALL eternity, are we?

**BVQA:** Well, if we get enough reviews we'll be saved. . .

**Dani:** QUICK! REVIEW! I'M BEGGING YOU!

**BVQA:** . . . you do realize this is YOUR fault, right? Oh, well. . . JUST REVIEW! I DON'T WANNA DIE!


	17. Chapter 17

**BVQA: **Still stuck in limbo.

**Dani:** Thanks a lot, you lazy reviewers!

**BVQA:** Now, now, Danielle, they're not all LAZY BUMS for not reviewing. One, in particular, shines with radiance!

**Dani:** You mean Pheek? Our only routine reviewer so far?

**BVQA:** Yes! It was because of that single review that I got internet connection in this dark abyss, so this chapter goes out to YOU, Pheek!

**Dani:** Whoo.

Dani rubbed her hands together to get rid of the numbness that came from holding Cujo too long. After the first few minutes, the circulation had been cut off from her hands and she had handed the little wriggling puppy over to Youngblood. She'd worried that Cujo would go back into heckhound mode- after all, Youngblood _was _one of Danny's enemies- but he'd just whimpered at being separated from Dani until Youngblood scratched him behind the ears. Dani had to wonder about that. If Cujo really was a good judge of character like Frostbite said, why wasn't he taken Youngblood down?

Dani didn't voice her questions out loud, not wanting to sound rude, but Youngblood noticed her look and read between the lines. "He knows I'm not gonna try anything. On the other hand, if _Vlad_ was here. . ."

"He's _always_ up to something." Dani finished for him, then shifted uncomfortably in her dog-slobbered clothes. "You never miss your intangibility until it's gone." She muttered, then caught the little smirk on Youngblood'a face. "Hey! Knock it off or I'll knock it off _for_ you!"

Youngblood gave a small laugh, then reached out and tapped Dani on the shoulder, releasing a small burst of intangibility. Dani sighed in relief as a small puddle of doggy slobber landed on the ground and she gingerly stepped out of it.

"Gross. . ." She said, and Youngblood laughed harder. Dani hit him on the shoulder, causing him to drop Cujo. Dani quickly caught the little green puppy before he hit the ground. "Careful!" Dani reminded him, and he shrugged it off with a grin.

"Hey, I have some people I'd like you to meet." He told her, than grabbed her hand that wasn't currently holding onto Cujo and led her through the crowd, pointing out ghosts as they passed. "This is Amorpho. . . Desiree. . . the Lunch Lady. . . Pandora. . . Spectra. . . Technus. . . Klemper. . . Wulf. . . and Sidney Poindexter. Everyone, this is Dani."

Dani waved at the small group of ghosts he had pointed out, looking them over.

"Amiko." Wulf said. "Friend."

A moment later Dani had slobber on her face for the second time that day. She grabbed Youngblood's shirt with her free hand and wiped her face with it before he could start laughing at her again.

"It's nice to meet you, Wulf." Dani said cheerfully. He gave her a toothy smile and padded off.

The second ghost had no face, but was otherwise well-dressed in a top hat and suit in black and red. Dani held her hand out to him with a smile that quickly dropped from her face as his skin melted into the same tone as hers, glowing eyes winking out at her, white hair covering his head. . .

Dani was soon shaking hands with herself. But it was a version of herself that she had never seen. Dani hadn't had the luxury of a mirror since her impromptu hair cut, and she was devastated by what she saw. Her face was pale, her eyes lacking the usual bright glow having faded to a dull flicker, and her hair. . .

"Oh, God, they did a horrible job on my hair." Dani said, hands flying to the ends of her now-ragged locks. "It looks like someone attacked it with a knife."

"Wait, I just turned into _you,_ and you're stuck on your _hair_?" Amorpho/Dani pouted. It was weird seeing her own face take on another expression, little pink lips twisting upwards, eyebrows drawing close together.

Youngblood smacked Amorpho/Dani on the back of the head. "Stop trying to scare her! It's not going to work."

Dani shrugged. "It's ok. I just wish-" Immediately, there were nine pairs of hands over Dani's mouth.

"_Don't say wish around Desiree!_" They all shouted, and Cujo whimpered loudly.

"Sorry. . ." Dani tried to say, but it came out more as 'MMM-mmph'. A moment later eight of the nine hands were removed, the last pair belonging to Youngblood.

"Desiree is the wishing ghost. Never, _ever_ make a wish around her unless you're prepared to accept the consequences." Youngblood showed no signs of letting go anytime soon, so Dani licked his hand. With a yelp, he pulled back. Dani giggled at the look on his face. "Girl slobber! It's on my hand! I'm gonna get cooties!" Youngblood shouted, then ran began running in circles waving his 'infected' hand around in the air. Dani collapsed with laugher on the ground, giggling like a lunatic.

There was a tap on Dani's shoulder and she looked up, wiping a tear from her eye.

"My name is Pandora, but you may call me 'Auntie' if you wish." Pandora said kindly. She was a rather fearsome-looking ghost, with an extra set of arms and a flaming purple headdress, but if you looked past all that she had warm, kind eyes and a nice smile. "I believe you brother is Daniel Phantom? He has been of great assistance to me in the past, so if he is ever in need of mine let me know."

"Ok, Auntie Pandora." Dani agreed.

"You can call me Auntie, too!" The lunch lady ghost said, elbowing Pandora aside. She had a slightly more. . . unbalanced. . . look to her, but she smiled readily enough. "I can't say I'm on the best terms with your brother, but I'm happy to help you out however I can. For starters, you look half-starved! A nice, home-cooked meal would do you good!"

"Um, ok, Auntie-" Dani began.

"Oh, leave the girl alone." Said the third ghost, this one seemingly made out of living shadow. "I'm your Auntie Spectra, alright?"

"Uh. . ."

"Excuse me! I was talking!" Pandora snapped.

"Um. . ."

"The girl needs more meat!"

"Hey, um. . ."

"Obviously, she needs a caring aunt to discuss her problems with!"

"Um, guys. . ."

"What, so you can destroy her from the inside out? Not likely!"

Dani felt a hand on her shoulder and allowed herself to be led away from her quarreling 'Aunties'.

"They do this all the time." A voice whispered in her ear, "But at the end of the day they'll all do knitting club together."

"That's a little insane." Dani replied to the unknown speaker.

"Absotively posilutely." The voice agreed, and this time Dani turned to face it.

"Greetings." Sydney Poindexter said nervously, shifting his feet. He was a thin, transparent specter picked out against the wall in black-and-white like an old photograph. His white cheeks had a light dusting of gray freckles, and his black hair was slicked back from his head. He adjusted his glasses nervously, sliding them up his thin, tapered nose, but they slid back down the moment he took his hand away so he adjusted his bow tie instead.

Dani smiled warmly at him. "Hi, I'm Dani."

"I know. Youngblood's told me about you. Speaking of which. . ." Sidney reached over and grabbed Youngblood by the collar, snapping him out of his 'cooties' loop. He pulled a handkerchief out of his top pocket and wiped Youngblood's hand off thoroughly before folding the handkerchief back up again.

"Thanks. . ." Youngblood gasped breathlessly. "You're my best friend now for sure now, Poindexter."

Dani faked a hurt look. "I thought _I _was your best friend."

"You have cooties!" Youngblood explained in an exasperated voice.

"It's ok. You can be _my_ best friend." Poindexter placated Dani.

"Aw, thank you, Sid." Dani replied happily. Sam and Tucker were great, but it would be nice to have friends her own age. Kind of.

Sid's cheeks darkened to gray, and Dani realized he was blushing. "I always wanted someone to call me Sid and not Poindexter." He said shyly.

"What are best friends for?" Dani asked. She held out her hand to him. "Best friends?"

"Best friends." He agreed, and shook her hand to seal the deal. Then Youngblood reached in and turned the whole thing into a giant fist bump that then evolved into a sissy fight that eventually ended in Sid sitting on top of Youngblood while Dani tickled him until he turned pink, as things normally go with a trio of kids.

But they held onto that warm feeling that friendship gave them.

They were going to need it.

**BVQA:** Well, _that_ was interesting. . . I had no idea Sid was going to become friends with Dani until I got to writing him, during which time I was struck by creative lighting and ran around in circles screaming, '_I'm a genius!_" very very loudly.

**Dani:** I know. I was there.

**BVQA:** *not listening* Anyway, it's just amazing because it totally fits and stuff and. . . well, you'll find out later! Anyway, same thing as last time, reviews will get us out of limbo!

**Dani: **And I will not _survive_ being trapped in limbo with _her_ for much longer. Please. . . freaking. . . review!


	18. Chapter 18

**BVQA:** Well, it took a while, but we're free!

**Dani**: *has lost her mind entirely and is muttering to herself* She just kept. . . kept _rambling_. . . she went _on _and _on_. . . just. . . _rambling_ about. . . characters and fangirling and. . . and. . . _who the heck is Aido Hanabusa_ and why. . . why was she telling me he's as hot as Zero and. . . and L and. . . Zim and Dib and. . . Ichijo and. . . Kain and. . . the Doctor. . . Death The Kid and Black*star and Soul and. . . Vladimir Tod and Joss and. . . why. . . she just _rambled so much. . ._

**BVQA:** Heh. Guess she couldn't stand listening to me. Uh. . . LOOK! ANOTHER CHAPTER!

Dani, Sid, and Youngblood sat in a circle in the center of Dani's cell. The cell in question now looked more like a cross between a goth-punk club and a costume ball, something that was probably going to get noticed at some point, but Dani and her new friends were too wrapped up in what they were doing to care.

"Here, your friend Tucker told me you needed to see this." Youngblood said, holding out a small, handheld computer to Dani. She took it and flicked the on switch at the top, watching as the little device powered up.

"Nice kid, your friend Tucker." Sid said thoughtfully. "Good with Esperanto."

Dani chucked. "Geeks united, huh?" Youngblood laughed at her comment. Sid did not.

"I take great offense at that!" He huffed. "_Tucker_ is a geek. _I_ am a nerd. You will find that there's a _huge_ difference!"

Youngblood laughed some more, but Dani leaned her head on her hand and listened in curiosity. "What _is_ the difference?"

Sid, looking very pleased to be the center of attention, quickly elaborated. "Geeks are synced up with modern technology and nerds are the ones you'll se with a book glued to their face. We might not be the hippest people, but we're good when you need to get out of a scrape."

"Looks like you'll be pretty helpful now, then." Dani said dryly, then the computer in her hands sparked to life and she saw four familiar faces on it.

"Lemmie see!" Tucker complained, sandwiched between Sam and Danny and competing for screen space. "I need to be able to reach the computer!"

"But it's _my_ sister!" Danny replied, shoving at Sam to try to monopolize the space.

"Both of you, just shut up!" Sam snapped. "Danny, stop standing on Tucker's foot or I'll hit you."

"Will you three _move_?" Valerie growled from behind all of them- in full Red Huntress gear. "I'm worried about her too! And where's Phantom? He was supposed to be here to help, if he's not too _scared_ to show up in the same house as me."

"He was here before you were." Danny lied quickly. "He had to leave right after, the GIW are still after him."

Valerie's scowl stayed. "I would've expected him to be taking full advantage of our temporary truce, but I guess he's prepared to leave Danielle in danger."

"He is not!" Dani said. "He just knows that he won't be any help if he's captured!"

The people onscreen continued bickering as if they hadn't heard. With a jolt, Dani realized that the message had been recorded previously- Dani could no more talk to the people onscreen than she could sit on a cloud.

"Quarrelsome bunch, aren't they?" Sid remarked.

"Yeah, but that Huntress girl really packs a punch." Youngblood said nervously, rubbing his arm where Dani could see the faint outline of a bruise.

"Shh!" Dani hissed, then turned back to the screen just in time to see the faint ripple in the air as Danny created an invisible, intangible duplicate.

Valerie continued ranting. ". . . and furthermore, I can't see how he and Danielle can even be related! She's sweet and nice and he's-"

"Standing right behind you." Danny's duplicate said, and Valerie spun to face him as he popped back into the visible spectrum. "Sorry I'm late. Are we going to brief Danielle or not?"

Valerie looked like she was going to start arguing again so Tucker coughed loudly and wormed his way up to the keyboard, rapping out a complex-sounding command. "Everyone, just say hi to Dani while I get this ready. She's probably confused as heck right now."

"Hi, Danielle!" Valerie beamed at the camera. "I'm in a _temporary_ truce with your cousin, so that ought to make you happy!"

"Yeah, we're breathing the same air and I haven't killed you yet. Life is good." Danny-double muttered under his breath. Danielle could see Danny-original mouthing the same words. A side-effect of being in the same room as your duplicate was the fact that people might notice the fact that you frequently said the exact same things, but Danny was facing away from Valerie so she couldn't see.

"Was that a threat?" Valerie growled at the Danny-duplicate, but he just frowned and looked away.

_They must've had a fight._ Dani thought. _Again._ She wished Danny and Valerie could just be friends and work together. After all, they _were_ in the same profession. Danny could use the help, and Valerie could stand to take some time off fighting Danny to get her grades up. Not that Dani would ever admit that she'd had Tucker hack the school server for her just so she could sneak a peek at Valerie's (and then Danny's) grades.

"Done!" Tucker said joyfully, breaking up the tension of the moment. "Dani, I need you to watch this carefully. This is the feed that got sent out from the television station you were in, and I'm pretty sure it's not what actually happened."

Sam nudged him.

"Uh, I'm _absolutely certain_ it's not what actually happened." He corrected himself. "Certain."

He quickly swiped a few buttons on the keyboard and the screen filled with a different image- one of Dani sitting with Katey in the recording room. Dani flinched at her full-length curtain of black hair- something she greatly missed. Subconsciously, her fingers found the edges of her new cut and she scowled, feeling the tears starting up again.

Two hands grasped hers and pulled it gently away from the ends of her hair. She looked up to see Youngblood and Sid looking at her with concern.

"Danielle, stop it. You are going to drive yourself insane if you keep doing that. Besides. . . you still look beautifu. . . um, very pretty." Sid said nervously, like he wasn't comfortable giving her orders. . . or compliments.

"Yeah, Dani, it looks fine!" Youngblood said in a much more confident tone. Dani caught them exchanging a look when they though she wasn't watching them, though, and it spoke volumes.

"You two are the worst liars ever." Dani sniffed, then pulled them both into a teary hug.

Their reactions were. . . interesting. Sid immediately went stiff, completely uncomfortable, then awkwardly reached up and patted her on the back a couple times. Youngblood twitched violently before pushing her away.

"_You still have cooties!_" He shrieked.

"Sorry." Dani said with a laugh, cheered up immensely. She returned her attention to the video.

"Uh. . . hi. . . I'm Dani-with-an-i Fenton-Phantom. But I guess you already knew that. . ." She was saying. Her voice sounded different onscreen, and Dani found herself criticizing her every move. Why was she twisting her hands together so desperately in her lap? Oh, right, because she had been nervous.

Dani knew what came next- she started talking about why she didn't consider herself a superhero. But instead, the screen went black. People started screaming.

"What?" Dani yelled. "This didn't happen!"

"Shh," Youngblood began, "You'll miss the important bit."

The lights flicked back on, and there was Katey alright. . . but the Dani of last week had left the building.

"Where am I?" Dani whispered.

"Right then? Robbing a bank, according to security camera. This video is a forgery, but, unfortunately, there is no way to disprove it." Sid said quietly.

'Where's Dani?' Katey was yelling. Youngblood reached out and paused the image, stopping the chaos. "It keeps going like that until there's another blackout, and you're back like nothing happened, and then the GIW bust in and _boom_!"

Dani nodded slowly. "But I didn't. . It wasn't. . ." Dani was about to give up and start tearing out her already-damaged hair in frustration when Cujo whimpered and placed his paws on the screen.

"No, Cujo, don't touch. . ." Dani began, moving Cujo's paws off the handheld. Then, with a gasp, she realized what Cujo had noticed before she had. "That's not Katey." Dani said with certainty.

"Whadia mean, it's not Katey?" Youngblood asked in confusion. "Of corse it is."

"No," Dani said, "Look at her eyes."

Whoever said 'the eyes are the windows to the soul' was either from Amity Park or a ghost themselves. In the face of, say, a yeti-like ghost, they could still convey kindness. Partially covered by green spiky hair, they could still smirk up at you from dimpled cheeks. Even gray eyes could show you sadness and a sort of strength, a sense of right and wrong.

They were also handy to tell when someone was being overshadowed.

"Who's a clever dog, then?" Dani whispered to Cujo, because instead of the dark green eyes that Dani had admired when she'd first met Katey there was a glowing green.

"It's got to be a ghost controlling her." Sid confirmed. "Same color as your eyes, actually."

"But I've never met any other ghosts with my eye color." Dani said.

Youngblood and Sid exchanged another one of their telepathic guy-glances and Dani realized they were hiding something from her. She targeted the weakest link in the chain.

"Youngblood, I'll infect you with cooties if you don't tell me what you're thinking." She said sternly. Youngblood's face adopted a deer-in-the-headlights look.

"Uh. . . uh. . ." He said. "Uh. . ."

"Your brother has the same eye color as you." Poindexter said flatly. . . but he avoided Dani's betrayed gaze. "What? We were both thinking it." He said to Youngblood.

"Not Danny. . . he wouldn't. . ." Dani whispered.

LINE BREAK

"Oh, but I would." A glowing, silver-haired youth said quietly, perched on a chair in Vlad's lab. He blew his hair out of his eyes and turned to the slim girl sitting next to him. "This is rather entertaining, isn't it. . . Sam?"

"I don't even know why she's here." An african-american boy in a red beret said sulkily. "I was the one who hacked the video feed."

"Shh, she's starting to cry." The silver-haired boy said, and all three watched with smiles on their faces as Dani's tears splattered onto the dusty prison ground.

"Disgusting clone." The pale goth muttered. "Shouldn't have been created."

"Waste of a test tube, if you ask me." Said Dani's 'brother'. "Come on, there's smoothies upstairs."

**BVQA:** Well. . . didn't know THAT was going to happen when I started writing this. . .Dun-dun-dun! I'M SO EVIL! Haha, review with what the heck you think's going on here.

**Dani:** And she went on. . . and on. . . and just. . . NO! NOT THE PUPPETS AGAIN!

**BVQA:** Um. . . reviews also help buy anti-crazy pills for Danielle!


	19. Chapter 19

**BVQA:** *gasps* Could it be. . . a chapter where something actually _happens?_

**Dani:** *still a little loopy from the anti-crazy pills* Whoooooo. . . Imma ghostie. . . la la la lalala. . .

**BVQA:** Yeah, sorry people (and by people I mean, like, three of you). I realize that it was probably pretty boring just to watch Dani in prison. . . uh, I mean the GIW holding pen. . . and that last cliffie was just mean of me. But in this chapter, stuff actually happens! So. . . enough delaying, here you go!

Dani was so tired of crying. She felt like it was all she'd been doing for her whole life. From one thing or another, she always wound up spraying tears all over everything. When Vlad betrayed her? She cried. When she got tossed into this prison? She cried. Even the stupid haircut had made her cry. She didn't like feeling this. . . weak.

Why was she crying now, anyway? All Sid and Youngblood had done was make an observation about her and Danny's eyes matching perfectly. She shouldn't be sobbing into Sid's shoulder (didn't want to give Youngblood cooties, after all) while Youngblood awkwardly patted her on the back.

"Dani? Dani, it's ok. We're not saying your brother has anything to do with this." Youngblood reasoned. Under his breath- like he was hoping Dani had suddenly gone deaf- he mumbled something to Sid about kicking his butt later for having upset Danielle. Sid mumbled something back about Youngblood being a bully sometimes.

"Danielle, I'm aware of your and your brother's strong love for each other. I'm certain he would do nothing to harm you." Sid comforted her. Dani sniffed, nodded, and sat back, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. Sid handed her his handkerchief- the same one that he'd used to 'decontaminate' Youngblood- and Dani blew her now-stuffy nose loudly before handing it back to him. She smiled weakly at her two friends, noting how ridiculous they both looked. Sid's thin button-down shirt was now soaked through on his shoulder from her tears, and Youngblood was looking at her like he was scared she was going to shatter into a million pieces. With the way Dani was feeling right now, she was almost sure that that was a possibility.

After a couple deep breaths, Dani stood up, stretched, and adopted her usual devil-may-care attitude.

"So!" She said loudly, making the two boys jump, "We now know Katey was being overshadowed by an unknown ghost. What does this tell us?"

"That she was part of some larger-" Sid began answering her, but Dani was on a roll and was unwilling to be interrupted.

"That she was part of some larger plan!" Dani cried. "Obviously to imprison me or to hut my brother. However, seeing that all ghosts have a hatred of the GIW, I don't think anyone would collaborate with them. That rules out everyone from the ghost zone, so the only other person I can think of is. . . Vlad!"

"Is this normal for a girl? To have mood swings like this?" Youngblood whispered to Sid. . . obviously under the impression that Dani couldn't hear him.

"I'm. . . not sure." Sid whispered back.

"You're not sure? You, the nerd who knows everything, is not sure?" Youngblood whispered back in disbelief.

"If you want someone to recite an encyclopedia from memory, I'm your man. But questions about the other gender are best asked of someone else." Sid paused. "Not that I believe any man can fully understand the complexities of the female species."

"Maybe it's puberty." Youngblood mused. Dani rolled her eyes. Boys. . !

"Hey! We're beating the bad guy here!" Dani reminded them.

"Right." Sid and Youngblood chorused.

"Now, all I need is to get out of this stupid prison. . ." Dani said thoughtfully.

"Hey, if we could bust you out, we would," Youngblood reminded her, "But that stupid jumpsuit you're wearing isn't going to let us. Bring it outside of the prison and it'll let them know immediately."

"You'll just have to wait for your trial this afternoon." Sid said.

Dani blinked. "I have a trial this afternoon?" She asked dumbly.

"You didn't _tell_ her?" Sid asked exasperatedly of Youngblood. Youngblood blushed and stammered a few sentences under Dani and Sid's intense glares.

"Explain. Now." Dani demanded.

"I'm sorry! I just forgot!" Youngblood whimpered. "Would I be able to make it up to you with a ton of party games and a piece of cake the size of your head?"

Dani grinned. "I do like cake. . ."

"Let's get this party started, then!" Youngblood said happily.

The next few hours were spent doing just what Youngblood had promised. . . and more. Words alone could not communicate the sight of Dani and Youngblood having a cake-eating contest, or of Poindexter winning every game of clue within the first round, the hysterical laughter when Youngblood fell into the bucket they'd been using to bob for apples, the terror of the unlucky ghost who accidentally pinned the tail on Cujo rather than the picture of a donkey that had been stuck on the wall, karaoke with Ember, a water balloon fight that tore down a wall, and accepting a dare to eat an ice cream sundae without using her hands. Dani wished it would never end.

But, all too soon, Bones (Youngblood's parrot/horse/whatever else came to mind) came swooping into the room from the hallway where he'd been keeping watch, warning everyone that the GIW had (finally) noticed their party and were coming. Quicker than Dani thought possible, the assembled ghosts picked up the decorations and slipped through a portal that Wulf made into the ghost zone. Soon, only Dani, Sid, and Youngblood were left.

"Good luck at your trial." Youngblood said. "We'll be there. You might not be able to see us. . . but we'll be there."

"My most sincere hopes that you'll prevail." Sid said. Dani resisted the strong urge to burst into tears again and instead dragged both of the morons into a lung-crushing hug. Yes, they were complete dorks. . . but they were _her_ dorks, and she knew she'd be able to count on her best friends in the future.

Dani reluctantly released them after Youngblood turned a funny purplish color and Poindexter's glasses started to slip off his face. Then- with a smile and a almost- but not quite- cheerful wave, Dani sent them off through the portal with a gentle shove. A moment later, the portal closed up and the GIW burst into her cell a fraction of a second afterwards. Dani, having recovered her defiant spirit, waved jauntily.

"Hi! Anything wrong?" She asked cheekily. Agent K and whatever-his-letter-is pointed their guns at her. "Can't shoot me. No powers, remember?" Dani said, "So that would violate rule number thirty-three, section eight, chapter twelve on dealing with non-hostile ecto-entities of sentience, making it illegal."

Agent K began laughing. Dani crossed her fingers and kept to what she'd learned from Sam- keep talking and pretend you know what you're doing.

"Why don't you just keep laughing? Because rule number thirty-three, section eight, chapter twelve states clearly- and I quote- that 'all sentient ecto-entities, hostile or non-hostile, when rendered harmless by ecto-ability-nullifying technology and/or confinement may not be injured by use of anti-ecto weaponry under the mutual understanding that any powerless specter cannot cause harm to a living being and thus self-defense is not necessary against them and any harm that comes to them will be considered an act of war'."

Dani smiled happily at their bewildered expressions. To be quite honest, she had no idea where she'd dredged up that knowledge from. . . just that she was thankful Sam had been such a great teacher in the ways of annoying government officials.

"War. It's not a good thing." She clarified helpfully.

"Shut it, convict." Agent K snapped.

"I'm not a convict. I haven't been officially declared guilty." Dani pestered them some more. Agent K's eye twitched.

"Whatever!" He snapped. "We're here to pick you up for your trial. It's in an hour and it'll take a while to get there."

"And then you really _will_ be a convict." The other agent said with menace in his voice. Dani took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

_You haven't done anything wrong_. She thought. _It's important to remember that. Also, this means that they don't know about the party I was throwing in here. They're just here to ship me off._

"Fill out your slip of lease." Agent K said, thrusting an official-looking piece of paper in her face. A second later a pencil followed it, and Dani ducked to avoid being poked in the eye. She picked up the piece of paper and scanned it, seeing that she was supposed to write her name and what she'd been accused of, she quickly scrawled the answers and handed the slip back to Agent K. He scowled, whipped out a red pen, and began correcting it.

"First of all, your name is not 'Dani Fenton/Phantom', it's clone thirteen. You haven't been convicted with robbery, you've been convicted with 'crimes against humanity'."

"Crimes against humanity?" Dani asked incredulously. "I haven't left Amity Park in, like, five months!"

Agent K ignored her and handed back the slip of lease or whatever. _Done nothing wrong, done nothing wrong, done nothing wrong._ Dani thought over and over. She kept chanting the mantra in her head as she was surrounded by GIW agents. One grabbed each of her arms, and another grabbed her feet and lifted her off the ground. They began to haul her towards the door of her cell.

"Hey!" She snapped. "I can _walk_, you know!"

They ignored her. Of corse.

Dani tried to remember the turns and corners they took to get to the entrance of the building, but she lost count after twenty-five. The white walls, white ceilings, and white floors all blurred together in her mind. She hoped she never had to see that much white ever again. And unless she was ruled innocent. . .

. . .that was very unlikely.

Daylight flared in Dani's vision, very different from the ugly florescent light strips that lined the hallways and cells. It was warmer, less distant, and. . . more free. Dani was, sadly, unable to see past the stupid guard holding her feet, but she could tell by the light breeze on her face that they were nearing a door.

So it was kind of surprising to her when they went right past it and entered a below-ground parking garage instead. She couldn't see very much of it, but she could hear the clang and then click as a door opened and shut behind them, and could see the texture (but not the color) of the walls change as it shifted from metal to concrete. She could feel the rumble of motors reverberating in her ears, and a few steps later she was roughly dropped into the back of a big white van.

Dani suppressed a chuckle. "Is there candy in here?" She asked snarkilly. The guards looked at each other bewilderedly, and Dani let her laughter bubble to the surface. A moment later she was rolling on the ground with hysterical giggles bubbling out of her mouth.

"Always trust a man in a big white van!" She gasped.

_It probably isn't normal to be having mood swings like this,_ Dani thought, but it just made her laugh harder.

"Is that. . . a girl thing?" One of her guards whispered to the other.

"Maybe it's puberty?" The other one whispered back.

Dani was already having a hard time breathing through her mirth, and the two guards' comments made it that much more difficult. She could hardly hear the clang as they slammed the door shut over her howls, although she could listen quite clearly as they made some comment about girls being scary.

Dani continued her laugh-fest until the van slammed into motion and she was banged against the back doors. The breath was knocked out of her and she lay there, dazed, for a moment before sitting up and wrapping her arms around her stomach. She had to think.

She knew, despite Youngblood and Sid's 'reassurances', she kind of looked like crap. No way was she going to get taken seriously looking like this. But what could she do, really? It wasn't like she had makeup or a pair of scissors to fix her stupid haircut. . .

Dani's hand drifted to her ipod, curled around the remnants of her black glove, and she heard the crinkle of the slip of paper Agent K had thrown at her. Her other hand cupped around the necklace Danny had given her as a plan formed in her mind. A wild, insane, crazy plan, but a plan nonetheless.

"Wish me luck." Dani whispered to the tiny pendant, hoping that somehow Danny could hear her.

Even if she wasn't entirely sure she could trust him.

Pushing that thought out of her head, Dani began to bring her plan into action. She picked up the slip of paper, remembering how Agent K had so gleefully scrawled on it in red. She wondered if he'd be so smug if he knew what she was about to do.

Dani ripped off the piece of the paper where 'thirteen' and 'humanity' ran together creating a big red splotch. She spat on her finger (she wasn't one of those girly-girls who couldn't stand her own saliva) and rubbed it across the paper until the ink bled out and the whole thing became a sopping red mess. Dani waited for it to halfway dry and then pressed it to her mouth, rubbing it across her lips. It wasn't exactly Maybelline, but it would do.

Second, Dani pinched both her cheeks, hard. Her eyes watered at the pain but she knew that in a few seconds her cheeks would flush as if she'd applied a brushstroke of pink blush to them, a trick she'd picked up o her worldwide travels. An old trick, yes, but that didn't make it any less affective.

Next, Dani carefully (carefully!) unwound her headphones. She popped the speaker off of one of them, exposing the bare wires, and switched on the ipod. Just as she'd hoped- sparks! Dani quickly set the remaining bit of the slip of lease on fire, and after a moment of hesitation lifted it towards her head. It took a long time for Dani to do what she intended. She didn't have a mirror, and she felt as if the piece of paper would burn completely before she was done. She also had a hard time not flinching away from the heat at the base of her skull. Every bump in the road made her freeze, hoping against hope that she hadn't messed up _too_ badly. But, eventually, she finished and dropped the paper to the ground, stomping out the fire. Her hand reached up and tugged a small chunk of her hair forwards. She could see the whole thing, but she knew what she'd done. Her hair, previously ragged and and hacked to just below her shoulders, was now burned off to just above them, staining her pearly white hair black at the ends. Even though Dani couldn't see very much of it, she decided it probably looked ok.

Lastly, Dani took some of the ashy remains of the paper, spat in them, and brushed them over her eyelashes. After wiping her fingers dry she patted the dust lightly over her eyelids. As an afterthought, she brushed them over the front of her jumpsuit and traced out the symbol both she and Danny shared. The stark black marks stood out against the bland white background. For some reason that made Dani smile.

Then the van slammed to a halt, pitching Dani forwards against the front of the car. She had arrived.

**BVQA:** Whoo. . . this story is wrapping up nicely.

**Dani:** *no longer loopy* Wait, what?

**BVQA:** It's almost over. Just a few more chapters.

**Dani:** What? We got stuck in limbo for _that_? You could have just told me the story would be over soon and I wouldn't have killed you!

**BVQA:** Heh. . . sorry?

**Dani:** Oh, you will die now!

**BVQA:** Aah! Please give me some reviews so I can throw them at her!

**Dani:** DIE!


	20. Chapter 20

**Dani:** *is well and truly knocked out from being hit with reviews*

**BVQA:** . . .well, hopefully she won't wake up until the story is over. I don't wanna die. Um. . . story! You! Read! Now!

Dani stood up with a bounce and a toss of her hair and swept over to the doors on the back of the van. She had no idea what was going to happen now, which she desperately tried to counter by acting like she was a princess and was completely in control of all that she saw. Even though that was nothing more than an act that wouldn't fool anyone that knew her.

The GIW might just buy it.

Dani fought the urge to squint in the bright light that poured in as the doors to the van were peeled open by a couple guards. Instead, she waited until they were just wide enough to accommodate her slim frame and then flounced out onto the road. There were scattered gasps at her sudden change in appearance and she smirked on the inside. Rather than let her smile show through she flipped her hair again, enjoying the grown-up feeling it gave her as it brushed the tops of her shoulders as lightly as the wind. She felt the sudden need to stand there all day doing nothing but shaking her head and feeling her hair run over her shoulders, but shoved it away with a promise to spend a lot of time doing so as soon as this was all over.

(**AN:** If you have long hair and get it cut short, it really is that distracting. I don't have Dani's strong will and I spent almost two hours after that particular haircut sitting in front of a mirror and flipping my hair around. I think that's how I lost most of my brain cells)

_Well, you'll have plenty of time to do that in jail_. The pessimistic part of her muttered in her ear, but she clamped her hand around the silver pendant around her neck for luck and began to stride down the road towards Amity Courthouse.

The building crouched at the end of the road like a monster under a bed. Dani had had plenty of time to memorize it when she'd been trying to get adopted by the Fentons, but she glared at it with new hatred now. A black shingle roof shaded an ugly, gray, squat little thing that looked like it had been stepped on by a giant. It was almost bulging around the edges, hideous and difficult to look directly at.

A hand on her arm. Dani turned with yet another hair toss and looked Agent K in the face.

"Yeah?" She asked with a calculated curl of her lip. _Princess, princess, princess. . ._ She chanted in her head. _He is dirt, I am gold. . ._

It was working. The Agent almost looked ready to back down when he spoke.

"Where do you think you're going?" It was probably supposed to come out as a threat, but it just wound up sounding confused.

"My trial? You know, the one that you drove me here for?" Dani put a perfect measure of contempt in her voice, trying to send him the subtext of 'wow, you must be _stupid_ if you've forgotten _that_'.

He was about to say something else, but Dani shook off his hand- not as difficult as it would seem, she was stronger than she looked- and continued up the road until she reached the ugly, _ugly_ black double doors and reached out her slim hands to rest them gently on the doorknobs. This was it. She was either going to be saved. . . or she'd crash and burn.

After contemplating that for a few moments, she removed her hands from the door handles and simply kicked the doors down.

"I believe I'm expected?" She asked the stunned crowd innocently.

SNACK BREAK! I'MMA EAT CHIPS NOW!

Dani sighed and plopped her chin down in her hand. She kicked her feet up to hit the underside of the desk in front of her and- liking the sound of the thud- she kept it up, not caring that she probably looked like a two-year-old now. The only thing that had gone right so far was her smashing entrance to the bleak little courtroom. For a moment she'd felt supercharged with all the shock and awe emanating from the room's occupants and she almost felt like she was glowing again. . .

. . .and then Vlad had entered the building.

Dani grumbled something impolite under her breath and pressed her chin harder into her palm. The _thud_s of her boots against the desk grew more agitated and the older half-ghost currently sitting next to her glanced her way in annoyance.

He'd shown up and treated her like a naughty child, taking her by the arm and leading her to her seat with a thorough scolding. He knew just how to turn the crowd, the creepy fruitloop was a master manipulator. He'd turned her from a teenage force to be reckoned with to a little kid who needed to be disciplined.

Oh, how she _loathed_ him.

Vlad reached over and placed his hand on Dani's knee, stopping her from continuing to pummel the desk. Her eyes narrowed and she smacked his hand away. It was as if he'd forgotten she'd ever been adopted by the Fentons and was no longer his 'daughter'.

_He's treating me like I'm three_. Dani thought with a scowl. _He's off by about ten years_. She deliberately turned her gaze over to the room in front of her.

Dani had always thought of courtrooms as places where the wise judges (usually imagined as having long white beards like Gandalf) rooted out evil criminals (generally resembling Vlad), dispensing punishment where necessary and freeing those who had been framed (like, say, her or her brother). What she hadn't pictured was a room filled with men in suits talking a lot and wrapping her in a net of lies.

". . .and as this eyewitness has just told us, Danielle was quite clearly at the scene of the crime." Vlad's lawyer was saying. "Can the defense offer any counterargument? Any alibi?" The eyewitness he'd been referring to- a middle-aged lady Dani had never seen before in her life- climbed down from the podium as the lawyer spoke. The lawyer, who Dani decided was probably evil incarnated.

He had greasy black hair slicked back from his head, a thin pointy nose, pale skin, and a jet-black suit and tie. The tie was black, too, rather than a fun color or some sort of print.

"As a matter of fact, we do." Dani glanced at the defense podium, where Sam and Tucker stood. Tucker looked extremely nervous, shifting from foot to foot and shuffling his papers, while Sam looked ridiculously overconfident. Both were dressed in their normal street clothes, and Dani felt herself relax at their non-formality. The atmosphere in the room was so thick she could hardly breathe, but her lungs loosened up when she saw that, in that one corner at least, normalcy lived on.

The crowd was behind her, so Dani couldn't actually say for sure that her family was there or not. But she could _feel_ the electric spark in the air, a tingle that told her that the people she loved were in the same room as she was.

Even Danny.

And if she happened to notice a shimmer in the air over Sam and Tucker's shoulders, roughly the size of, say, a nerd from the sixties. . . and over by the doorway, a small bird skeleton seemingly perched on thin air. . .

Well, it wasn't as if she was about to tell Vlad that there were gatecrashers at this party, right? Maybe. . . just maybe. . . they'd give her an edge.

"We call Danielle Fenton/Phantom up to the stand." Sam said, and Dani felt her life begin to change drastically.

For worse. . . or better?

**BVQA:** Sorry it was short. But the next chapter will have the whole court argument thing in it, and we'll finally find out if she's guilty or not.

**Dani:** *still asleep*

**BVQA:** . . .well, it's going to get real boring real fast without her to bother me. Hmm. . . *starts singing old show tunes*


	21. Chapter 21

**BVQA:** Ok, first of all I would like to apologize for missing an update- and an important one at that! I was in Iowa for Odyssey Of The Mind World Finals, and literally every second of my day was booked solid. Not to mention, no internet connection. . .

**Dani:** *fully recovered now* . . .I can't believe you and your team dressed up as superheros and ran through campus yelling 'fear not citizens, the area is safe'.

**BVQA:** . . .why, what's wrong with that?

**Dani:** . . .

**BVQA:** Did you like our spy costumes better? Because I bruised my shoulder throwing myself behind that dumpster and I'm pretty sure some of my teammates hands are permanently glued into gun shapes.

**Dani: **How about you just give these people the chapter?

**BVQA:** *waving finder gun wildly* THE AREA IS SECURE! COMMENCE FANGIRLING!

**Dani:** SAVE. . . ME. . .

Danielle had taken some hard journeys in her life, but the one from her seat to the stand was the hardest. She felt like her feet were moving through molasses, dragging slowly across the ground. It would also explain how her lungs were filling with the stuff, and her heart was thumping quickly in her chest in an attempt to get it out of her system. She shivered, feeling nervous energy play out like sparks through her body, and forced herself to take another step. . . and another. . . until she reached the stairs up to the podium. They were steep, and her feet banged against the upper edge of the step as she climbed, but a moment later she was standing behind the podium.

Emphasis on 'behind'.

"Um. . . can I have a chair to stand on or something?" Dani asked, embarrassed. Had she still had long hair, the upper edge of her high, bouncy ponytail might- _might_- have cleared the edge of the stand, but as it was Dani couldn't even see over it. "Uh. . . little help? Anyone?" Dani was blushing furiously, she could feel her hears heating up and knew they were a bright firetruck red. She thanked her lucky stars- Leo, Gemini, and Andromeda- that her new haircut covered them up.

She heard Vlad chuckling softly and realized he must have planned this. It would be difficult for even a fanboy to take her seriously when she couldn't even see over the stand, let alone a crowd of 'unbiased peers'. . . something Vlad would have realized and planned out. Dani scowled and, realizing that no one was going to help her out, decided to make her own plan. She kicked off her shoes and stacked them on top of each other using her toes. The platform boots formed a perfect booster and Dani soon found herself about two feet taller than she had been a few moments previously. She laced her fingers in a way she hoped was grown-up and turned to Sam and Tucker.

"Our first question is whether or not you ever left the television studio on the day of the alleged robbery." Tucker said formally, lacing his fingers to imitate Dani.

"No. I was there the whole time." Dani replied.

"Your honors, this is ridiculous!" Vlad's lawyer said to the judges in outrage that seemed a little _too_ outrageous to Dani. "We have seen the tape and she clearly left in the middle of the broadcast! We have _physical evidence_." Sam and Tucker glanced at each other nervously, and Dani realized they must not have noticed that Katey had been overshadowed during that little bit of the show. This was their weak point. They could not actually _prove_ that Dani was telling the truth.

But Dani could.

_Time to change the rules a little bit_. Dani thought with a smirk, and jumped down off her boots, picked them up, and walked barefoot to the lawyer's podium where Sam and tucker looked at her as if she was crazy. There were mixed gasps throughout the crowd as she did so and Vlad's lawyer began protesting.

"My honors, I must object! What is she _doing_? I demand she be restrained!" He shouted. Dani paused in midstep and lifted her hand in a gesture that. . . well, wasn't very nice. He paled and shut up and she continued her walk to the podium in relative peace.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Sam whispered to Dani.

"Trust me." She breathed back, smiling at both her and Tucker.

"We do. Just be careful." Tucker murmured back. Dani was about to stack her boots up so she could see when Sam stuck her right foot out and Tucker placed his left one on top of it, making a perfect space for Dani to stand. It was a simple gesture like this that made Dani choke up slightly as she stepped lightly on top of their feet and took a deep breath before beginning her fight for freedom.

"I don't know how many of you here today are familiar with ghostly abilities, but there is something a ghost can do called overshadowing." She began, and there was a scoff from the other podium.

"Am I supposed to believe this child is now acting as her own lawyer?" He said in a mocking tone. "She can't even see over the podium without assistance from her friends!"

One of the judges cleared their throat, a man with wild red hair and freckles. "I agree that it is. . . _highly_. . . irregular, but I believe that we should hear her out before condemning her."

_Thank you_. Dani silently beamed up to him, then continued. "Overshadowing is when a ghost takes over a human's body, using it for their own means. It is almost impossible to detect, because nothing about the person is altered at all. . . except for their eyes. Now, if my techie here will just pull up that clip where I supposedly vanished. . ." She looked meaningfully at Tucker and he sighed and pulled out a remote control, flicking the video up onto the screen directly behind them. ". . .you'll see that Miss Katey's eyes are glowing a rather violent shade of neon, an obvious display of not quite being herself at the moment. Thus, this clip was inserted into the video to create an anti-alibi for me." Dani found herself slipping into the proper speech that she'd heard Sam use so many times when kicking butt in the courtroom.

_This argument is won_, she thought happily.

But Vlad's lawyer wasn't done yet.

"And how do we know that it really was inserted _afterwards_?" He asked rhetorically. "You could have just had your older brother overshadow her while you zipped off to rob some important banks and museums. There's no proving this."

Danielle gritted her teeth. Not now. Not when she was so close to proving herself innocent. She closed her eyes and mentally rewound back to that day.

She'd been _having trouble sitting comfortably because of the pencil in her pocket that was poking her no matter where she sat. She couldn't exactly remember why she had a pencil in her pocket, but she had some other things to think about right then as she sat in a big, cushy, blue armchair and stared at the big, cushy, green armchair directly opposite. . . some stuff had happened, Katey told a joke, and Dani giggled, then saw bright lights switching on. She looked around wildly and was almost blinded._

_"Oops, you gotta go." Katey said. "I'm supposed to introduce you first, then you come in."_

_Dani nodded hurriedly and stood to go. The pencil in her pocket was driving her insane, so as she stood she dropped it on a side table she passed on the way out._

Dani stood up straighter. _The pencil. . !_

She leaned over and murmured what she wanted Tucker to do in his ear before clearing her throat and interrupting Vlad's lawyer.

"If you'll look at the screens for a moment, I believe you'll see quite clearly that in the screen where Katey is overshadowed there is no pencil on the side table. In the shot before, you'll see that there is, as well as the one after." She said as Tucker pulled up photos on the screen behind her to illustrate her point. She smiled at the jury. "Meaning that it was put in in the middle of the broadcast and had been recorded before I got there."

"Which doesn't prove anything." Vlad's lawyer argued. "_Here_ is the footage of Danielle robbing a museum at the time of the blackout footage, which is quite conclusive. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Danielle _herself _put in that clip."

Vlad's techie team pulled up the footage. Danielle hadn't seen it before, but now she gasped at the video clip. It was in black and white, obviously from a security camera, but she could still see a little ghost girl flitting through the medieval section of the museum, pulling on an expensive-looking green, white, and black dress and a priceless-looking tiara from the displays before tossing on handfuls of historic jewelry. If Danielle hadn't known for sure that she hadn't been there, she would have believed it. The resemblance between her and the ghost onscreen was erie. That same dimpled smile, boyish figure, and bouncing white pigtail.

In an unconscious motion, Dani slipped her hand around her pendant. . .

. . .and her salvation came to her with the memory of Clockwork's words.

_Protect it, and it will protect you_.

She grinned so wide she was certain that every tooth was showing. She'd _thought_ she knew what that meant, that the little ghost charm had somehow been enhancing her abilities. After all, her powers had been coming much easier since she'd gotten it. But you know what? She also wasn't sleeping on the streets and constantly running from Vlad, so that could have helped just as much.

No, _this_ was what he had meant.

"Thank you, Clockwork." She whispered, knowing that he could hear her. Then, as an afterthought, and much less sweetly, "And you too, Danny." She loved Danny so much, but her feelings of distrust for him sat in the pit of her stomach like a nasty parasite, tainting every thought she had about him.

She shook her head to clear her now dark mood from around it. _Clear name first, duke it out with Danny second_. Then, _I have got to talk to mom about these mood swings._

"I'm wondering if anyone's noticed my necklace?" She asked at length. When all attention had been turned to her, she held it out for everyone to see. "It's a favorite birthday gift of mine, given to me by my brother. I haven't taken it off since. The pendant is a little ghost girl with one blue eye and one green one. It's one-of-a-kind."

Vlad's lawyer snorted. "If you're trying to prove something by telling us how unique it is, you're way off base. You're still wearing it in the video, see?" He played it again in case Dani had missed the point. "It's as plain as day."

"Yes, about that. . ." Dani said calmly. "I can see that the ghost in that footage does indeed have a silver pendant, but I doubt that it's anything like mine."

"Of corse it's like yours. It _is_ yours." The lawyer said, no bravado missing from his facade. The picture of 'Dani' zoomed in, displaying the tiny, curled-up figure on a slim silver chain. "There's no difference."

"Actually, there is." Dani said happily. "Because, while the person who copied my necklace got the metalwork absolutely perfect. . . they forgot about the eyes." She once again held up the pendant for inspection. "The blue eye is ghost ice made by my brother, but it's the green one you should be paying attention to. It's made from stable ectoplasm, and, well. . . let's just say it leaves a very. . . _distinctive_. . . trail behind it."

Dani nudged Tucker and he got the message instantly, pulling up a map of Amity and overlaying it with a green line where he caught traces of the same signature on Dani's pendant. Some places, like Fentonworks and the Nastyburger, were practically glowing off the screen with hits. Others, like the school, had a few trails but not very many. . . Dani hadn't gone there very long.

And some, like the museum, were completely barren of any green at all.

"To take your own words from you," She said smugly to Vlad's lawyer, "_It's as plain as day._"

He tried to protest of corse, but no one bought into what he said after that. A few minutes later the jury declared Dani innocent of all charges and she and her family piled into the GAV. . . er, the RV along with Youngblood and Poindexter, racing down the streets to get ice creams bigger than their heads.

Vlad was left sitting alone in the silent courthouse, vowing quiet revenge.

He would not have to wait long.

**BVQA:** Well, whaddia think?

**Dani:** Thank God it's over!

**BVQA:** Wait a second, you thought that was it?

**Dani:** WHAT? THERE'S MORE?

**BVQA:** That wasn't even the climax! We didn't resolve the conflict with Danny yet! See you in the next chapter, folks! *whispers* Dani, say bye.

**Dani:** *is gone*

**BVQA:** *notices open window* Uh. . . reviews will help me track down Danielle.


	22. Chapter 22

**BVQA:** First off, if the end of the last chapter came off as rushed, I apologize. I was trying to make it vague so I could fill in the details in _this_ chapter. And if I may draw your attention to the picture I used for this story, it's a drawing I did of Dani, Youngblood, and Sid. You probably can't tell because of the size of the image, though.

**Dani:** *Has been tied up and gagged to prevent further escapes* Mumph!

**BVQA:** Also. . . updates after this might be a little jumpy because summer vacation is starting up, school is winding down, and tests are being taken! Thus, I'm probably not going to have much time to write. Just a warning. Now. . . on to the next chapter! In which Dani gets ice cream!

"I'm sorry, what?"

Dani tapped her foot and glanced around the ice cream parlor. It was painted lime green, sunshine yellow, bubblegum pink and orange-y orange. Candy colors. That, paired up with the 60's theme (complete with jukebox, waitresses on roller skates, neon lights, and oldie music blaring through hidden speakers) was making Sid smile like a three-year old and bounce lightly on his toes when he thought no one was looking. If someone _did_ happen to look his way, his cheeks would instantly coat themselves in a dusty gray blush and he would stare at the ground awkwardly. Everyone else was happy with the 60s ice cream parlor because. . . well, it was an ice cream parlor.

Dani returned her attention to the bewildered waitress standing in front of the Fenton and friend's cushiony, green-and-white-sparkly booth. She had her bright orange hair piled up in a 60s hairdo, held back with a green bandana, and was wearing a vintage-looking waitress uniform. She rocked lightly back on her retro roller skates, then rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand as if to check that the orders she'd been writing down on her notepad were correct. She seemed like a bright enough lady, and she had accepted the fact that she was serving ice cream to ghosts with no questions. However, the massive _size_ of what they had ordered was enough to make her think that maybe she'd missed something along the way.

"You want _every flavor_ we have. . . in the _biggest_ bowl we've got. . . each." She asked cautiously.

"It's a special occasion." Dani said with a brilliant smile.

"Well. . . alright." The waitress- who, Dani noticed, was wearing a name tag reading 'Vicki'- said in a tentative voice. "Coming right up." Dani's beaming grin in her direction seemed to have cheered Vicki up, and she managed an equally sincere smile back before skating of through the double doors to the kitchen.

"So." Danny (ghost form) said with a smile. "Quick thinking, in the courtroom."

"You're pretty sharp, sis." Danny (Fenton) added.

Was it just Dani's imagination, or were their proud smiles a few molars smaller than usual?

_Just keep your cool, Dani._ Dani thought, and returned the smile with only slightly less vigor than the one she'd given Vicki. "I just had to remember what Clockwork said. Remind me to bake him cookies at some point as a thank you."

"You can bake?" The utterly bewildered tone in Sid and Youngblood's voices as they asked the question was nearly as offensive as the reply they received.

"_No_." Sam, Tucker, Danny and Danny said in exact unison. "She nearly burned down the house last time."

Dani pouted. "It's not _my_ fault that sugar can catch fire!"

"It is when you add a whole bag of it. . ." Danny (Fenton) began.

". . .and when it lights the cookies up, you drop them on the floor!" Phantom finished, then everyone, Dani included, burst into laughter as both Dannies slapped each other high fives. Dani's giggles lasted far longer than anyone else's, long enough that her good humor almost distracted her from the question that weighed heavy on her mind like a brick on top of a marshmallow. A tan, thirteen-year-old marshmallow with a short bob of hair and a big smile, but a marshmallow nonetheless. And she'd thought all those months on the streets had made her tough! She realized now that all she'd been doing was running from her problems. Facing them took far more strength.

Dani took a deep breath, prepared to face this problem with all that she was. She opened her mouth to ask that question, that one, _big_ question, second to only one other. . .

. . .and was interrupted by a plate heaped high with ice cream being placed square in front of her nose. Dani's eyes widened, her gaze traveling up the multicolored mountain, until she was sure it was never-ending and blocked out the sun.

"Whoa. . ." She gasped. Vicki, who Dani couldn't even see past the huge dessert, chuckled. "Enjoy, everyone." She said, and Dani then noticed that everyone at the table was staring at their ice cream with equal reverence.

"Thank you, Vicki!" Dani called, and the orange-haired waitress smiled over her shoulder as she skated off.

There was a moment of silence as everyone sized each other up. Then. . .

"_Ice cream eating race!"_ They all shouted at once, and dug in. Dani ignored the spoon that was thoughtfully placed next to the confectionary behemoth, and instead scooped large mouthfuls off of it with her tongue like a giant ice cream cone. She could see others following suit in her peripheral vision, and quickly realized that more drastic measures had to be taken if she was going to win. Danny (Phantom) already had a leg up on everyone else since he had duplicated himself another two times and was eating three time the amount anyone else could manage, However, after about two minutes of that, all three of them groaned and slipped to the floor, melting back into one ghost. Dani took careful note. It was important to remember that the ice cream the duplicates consumed all went to the same person, so Danny was just giving himself a stomachache and a brain freeze like no other. Danny (Fenton) was still in the race, obviously trying to keep up the pretense that he _wasn't_ the human half of Phantom and thus connected to the ghost's ice cream agony, but Dani could see that he was barely making a dent in the mound on his plate.

_Well, he's out of the running_. Dani thought with a grin, noting with satisfaction that she seemed to be the faster (and smarter) of the two.

That is, until she took stock of where everyone else was at. Youngblood, without the need to breathe, was gulping down mouthfuls in a constant blur of motion and was a threat in his own right. Sidney was the only one using a spoon, but he was so quick at shoveling down heaping spoonfuls of ice cream that he was keeping pace with everyone else. Sam's ice cream was of the ultra-recyclo-vegetarian variety and thus less thick than everyone else's, allowing her to fit more in her mouth at one time. Tucker was keeping them all in check by sheer speed, and as for Dani's parents. . . well, Jack _had_ been halfway through before Maddy, unable to keep up because of her thin frame, had 'accidentally' knocked his chair over.

Dani almost choked on her latest mouthful as she giggled. She'd seen that same competitive nature the time she'd caught them playing checkers when they_ thought_ they were alone in the house.

The racing and giggling continued for nearly a half an hour, during which time Sam tried to stab Tucker with her fork, Youngblood had stolen Sid's spoon right out of his mouth, Dani had kicked her mother under the table, and they had all come out in an eventual, brain-freezy, gut-clenching tie.

"I think I'm going to _hurl_." Dani said, leaning back in her seat while she licked the plate clean. She finished, and placed it back on the table with a thoughtful expression on her face. ". . .it was worth it."

There were agreeing noises from around the table, from everyone except Youngblood. . . he was throwing up in a nearby trash can. For some reason, Dani found that funny.

_You should ask them now._ A voice in the back of Dani's head murmured, and before she could think it through she asked _the question._ The one that she'd been worrying about ever since the court case. The one that scared her more than the thought of being locked up.

"So. . . now what?"

**BVQA:** Aand there's a sorta-cliffie for ya. I'm sorry the chapter was a little shorter than I usually make 'em, but I felt some lighthearted fluff was needed and I couldn't really make it run on much longer. Don't worry. . . the next chapter will have plenty of conflict!

**Dani:** Mumph!

**BVQA:** Reviews will help me get through the last few weeks of the school year! Why don't you tell me what you think is going on with Danny? (I know I asked already, but I want to see if you have a better idea now)

**Dani:** *spits out gag* Only _you_ could manage to have parentheses in your speech.

**BVQA:** Why, thank you!

**Dani:** That _wasn't _ a compliment.


	23. Chapter 23

**BVQA:** I am so sorry about the long wait! I didn't mean to take so long writing this, but things have just piled up. . . back to back summer camps were not helpful. I kept telling myself, 'just wait until you're out of this camp. . . aaaand this camp. . .' and the next thing I knew I hadn't updated all summer! I'm so, so, so, sor-

**Dani:** *smacks BVQA upside the head*

**BVQA:** Ow! What was that for?

**Dani:** Just start the story already, will you?!

**BVQA:** Ok, ok! That really hurt!

Danny hadn't been happy about it.

To be totally fair, Dani hadn't been very happy about it either, but since she'd been the one to suggest it in the first place she wasn't exactly in a position to complain. And it was the right thing to do, she knew that much. But why couldn't someone _else_ do the right thing? Why did it have to be her?

_Because if someone else did it, it wouldn't be the right thing_. Some part of her said softly. She mentally whacked it around the ears with a rolled-up newspaper. _Shut up! Stupid conscience! I thought I told you to keep your opinions to yourself, you jerk! It''s your fault I got roped into this!_

Dani scowled briefly, then continued to pad down the long, empty hallway as quietly as she could. She unclenched her teeth and breathed shallowly through her mouth, trying to keep the sound of her gasping for breath below the level that could be detected by human ears. Silence was key. She knew she wasn't strong enough to hold her own if she was discovered, something that annoyed her to no end. . . and frightened her quite a bit, if she was really honest. Hence her rapidly thudding heart. But she knew that she could get through this if she just kept a cool head and a cautious heart. So what if she was infiltrating Vlad's mansion? Alone? As in, all by herself?

Her hand drifted up and closed over her pendant, thumb tracing gently over the green eye. It was warm to the touch, burning gently with a small spark of life. She wondered how something so beautiful could come from someone she didn't. . . _couldn't_. . . really trust.

Especially with that voice coming from the lab downstairs. A very familiar voice.

"Oh, Danny." She whispered, feeling like she'd been punched in the stomach. "What's happened to you?"

"Nothing compared to what's going to happen to you." The familiar voice said from behind her.

It was around then that she felt the sting of a needle and passed out before she could even turn around.

LINE BREAK

There had been a long, tense silence after her question, and then Dani's mom had filled it with forcedly positive chatter.

"What do you mean, Dani? Nothing happens now. You beat the bad guy, congratulations on that, and everything goes back to how it was before this mess."

Dani wished she could believe it. She wished it, but wishes didn't mean anything in the real world. "It's not over. He'll try something else. I won't be able to stay one step ahead of him forever. I want to be able to relax every once in a while, you know? I'll have to deal with him sooner or later. . ."

"Then it'll have to be later." Danny (Phantom) said decisively. "You aren't strong enough to face Plasmius. . . em, his ghost partner. The one who helped him. Whoever that may be. I certainly don't know for sure that it's the Wisconsin Ghost."

Dani shook her head. "No, it has to be now. And it has to be me, before you go all overprotective and say you'll fight this one for me. This is my fight and mine alone. It needs to take care of this once and for all. . ." Dani sighed and, even quieter, mumbled, "Not that I have any idea what would do that."

It was a somber moment for them all. Sam and Tucker shifted uncomfortably in the tense air, and for the first time Dani felt a stirring of mistrust for them. If she couldn't trust Danny, who was to say that she could trust his best friends? They were certainly more his friends than they were hers. . .

And her friends were no better. Youngblood and Sid could both be in on this, as well as. . . Dani shuddered to admit it. . . her own parents. Hadn't they always hated ghosts? Maybe they were all plotting against her. She couldn't trust any of them. Not really.

Jack, usually the chipper one, stared down at the last melted dregs of his ice cream with uncharacteristic melancholy. "Good old V-man. . . I didn't thing he'd go so far to get you back. . . I know it doesn't seem like it, but back in our college days we were inseparable. We'd known each other since. . . forever, really, and we didn't see any problem with that." Jack raised his eyes to his son, who was sitting across the table and staring blankly into empty space. He didn't look as if he was listening, but Dani knew him too well to fall for that act. . . he was hanging onto every word, she knew.

"We were just like you and Tucker, really. . ." Jack said softly, and Danny dropped his facade, turning to his dad as suddenly as a snake that had its tail stepped on. A poisonous snake.

"What are you saying?" He asked quietly.

"Just that you and Vlad. . . you aren't really so different."

That was when Dani made her decision. She stood and left the table, not responding as they all called after her. In a moment of confusion she was off and running.

Because Jack was right.

Vlad and Danny were exactly the same.

LINE BREAK

Dani woke up slowly, drifting back into consciousness and realizing without really being surprised that she was strapped onto a lab table. Again. The cold steel pressed against her, smoothing away the heavy warmth that had settled over her.

"I've asked before and I'll ask again. . . what is it with you and examination tables. . ?" She mumbled. The question lacked real sting, the sedative still making her drowsy. Good thing, too, or she'd probably be panicking. It was a scene out of her worst nightmare. She was lying on her side, staring blankly into the harsh florescent light beamed down from somewhere above. She was, somehow, thankful for the too-bright illumination. Outside the small circle there was nothing but blackness, and this blackness scared her more than anything else she could remember. Well, bot the black itself. . . but of who she knew was waiting in it.

She realized, in an absent sort of way, that she wasn't thinking of Vlad.

"Oh, good. . . you're up, sis." Dani didn't want to turn her head towards the voice, partly from the numbing effect of the drug and partly because she didn't want to see the speaker. Unfortunately they didn't give her a choice, and they rounded the edge of the table step by step with a happy little smile in their voice.

"Honestly, I thought it would be harder to trick you into coming here, but it was easy."

Step.

Snow white hair entered the pool of light in front of her.

"I mean, really? 'No, Dani, don't go. . . it's too _dangerous_'!"

Step.

Those trademark glowing green eyes popped up.

"Can't believe you didn't listen, actually. I'd thought you would have held onto any excuse to avoid this confrontation."

Step.

First the distinctive white boots were illuminated, then the rest of the unique outfit.

"After all, you're so weak sometimes. . ."

Step.

Dani shut her eyes, closing out the awful truth, though it took every ounce of strength she had left. The effort felt like it took a year. Why did it hurt so much to breathe now? Why were the backs of her eyes stinging like that?

Why were her cheeks wet?

"Aw, she's crying." A new voice now.

Three steps. In unison. Dani's eyes swept open in an instant and she saw, to her growing horror, two more figures flanking the first.

_I think the sedative's wearing off from the inside out_. Dani mused in a distracted sort of way. _My heart's racing, but the rest of my body is frozen. Like ice. Maybe that's all I am. Maybe I'm not crying, maybe I'm melting and soon I'll be all gone. Then it won't hurt anymore._

The thought almost made Dani smile.

"Crybaby. That's the thing I hate about you, you know. Well, _one_ of them."

Step.

"Hi. . . guys. . ."

Dani whispered.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker smiled at her in a way that radiated kindness.

Well, maybe it would have if the circumstances had been different.

"Come on, little sis." Danny said as if he were discussing the weather with her. "Father wants to see you."

Dani clung to some small, insane hope.

"You mean. . . Jack. . ?" Why was it so hard to breathe?

Danny gave her a chastising look and Dani's heart stopped twitching in her gelid rib cage. "That moron? No, I mean our _real_ dad."

"Vlad. . ." Dani hissed, and Danny beamed down at her with the air of a teacher that has finally broken a difficult student as he started to release her bonds. She'd hardly noticed the metal bands, and she hadn't even considered trying to break loose from them. In her current state, it would be a stretch if she could sit up unassisted, much less escape from her fully capable older brother and his two friends.

"Right. And don't worry, I had him get rid of that cheap hologram he made of you. I mean, he could have made a better effort if he wanted to frame you. . ."

"Are you a. . . hologram too?" Dani didn't even bother to cross her fingers. She could feel his gloved fingers, warm and almost gentle, brushing against her own gloved wrists as he snapped the cuffs open. No hologram felt like that, Dani knew.

"Well, now, that's just insulting. I'm as real as you are, little miss clone. Do I have to punch you to prove it?" Danny moved to the clamps on her feet and opened them just as deftly as he had the ones on her wrist. Then his hand drifted up over her face, the fingertips glowing green. "Will a good solid blast be enough to convince you, or. . ?" Danny let the question trail off, and Dani shut her eyes to ward of the intensifying green glow.

"Will you stop playing with the clone already?" Sam said exasperatedly. "We're taking too long as it is."

"Seriously, dude, you can catch up later." Tucker paused. "Well, not much later. . . she won't be around too long. So, actually, if you're going to say your final goodbyes you'd better make them quick."

Danny shrugged. "I can ramble on when I'm melting her down to goo. Let's just get moving before my dad gets mad at me." He slipped his arms around Dani's knees and shoulders, lifting her off the table and striding off into the shadows.

Dani looked down at the ground until it was too dark to see her tears shatter against it.


	24. Chapter 24

Dani ran her fingers over the sides of the red velvet armchair. It felt soft enough under her fingers, but when she pressed into the padding underneath it lacked the worn-down feel of the less-expensive-but-infinitely-more-comfortable couches at Fentonworks. This felt. . . untouched. Pristine. And of corse it was. There had been no three-year-old Jazzes to jump up and down on it, no toddler Dannys to use it as a launching pad when he played astronaut, no Jack to sit and play with his ghosthunting dolls and no Maddie to tinker with her inventions while they watched TV. And Dani had never come into this room, she'd been too busy trying to escape the mansion and its suffocating, abandoned atmosphere.

Come to think of it, that was what Vlad had been trying to do as well. Only his escape plan involved trapping other people there with him.

"It's such a shame." Dani whispered to herself. "This place would be great to live in if it wasn't so empty."

"Sorry, what?" Vlad said from his seat on the other side of the fireplace. "I didn't quite catch that."

It was so strange, sitting next to him like this. It was something out of the years past when they'd still been on good terms, when she'd sit in front of one of the mansions many fireplaces and, suddenly, Vlad would be there with some marshmallows. He was the one who'd taught her how to make s'mores, the one who'd first been there for her, before Danny and everybody else. . .

"Nothing." Dani said quietly. "I didn't say anything."

Vlad gave her a long, heavy look at her over his shoulder, firelight reflecting in his pale blue eyes and spraying sparkles through his long silver hair. He'd let it out of his ever-present ponytail, and Dani couldn't stop herself from imagining him flying through the sky, tangling his hair in the same windswept way that Danny's ghost form always sported. She wondered what his ghost form had originally looked like, before years of envy and pointless revenge had started to taint it.

Had he looked like Danny?

Dani looked away. She didn't want to see Danny reflected in Vlad, and she certainly didn't want to see Danny standing behind her either. As if he had read her mind, Dani felt Vlad's gaze travel from her face to her older brother's. As he did so he let the black rings that contained his ghost form spread across his body, turning his flowing white hair to the darkest midnight black and his tan skin to a sickly gray-blue-green. He always preferred to deal with things like this in his ghost form, and Dani wondered if it was his way of separating himself from the criminal acts he committed. Like, 'It wasn't me, it was the ghostly energy I was infected with!'

Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night, Vlad.

"You can leave now, Daniel." Vlad said, and Danny smiled and nodded.

"Kay, father." He said, then turned to Sam and Tucker as he left. "Come on, let's go watch the new Cyber-Zombie movie."

Dani watched the door click shut behind them and then pictured the way that Danny always burst in and out of the screen door at Fentonworks, banging it so loud that the neighbors two blocks over could hear it. Dani was even worse about it- they'd sometimes get calls from the police telling them to 'Stop setting off those fireworks in your backyard!' when she followed Danny for a game of soccer.

"I take it by your silence that you're wondering what I want to talk to you about." Vlad guessed.

_Actually, I was wondering if your house feel any less empty if it was filled with the sound of slamming doors._ Dani thought. Out loud she said, "Yeah. Sure. Whatever."

Vlad leaned his hands on his knees, regarding Dani with an unreadable expression. "That apathy is probably an aftereffect of the sedative. It'll go away in a little while."

"Mm-kay." Dani thought for a while, then thought of another question that had been bugging her. "And the paranoia?"

"Ah." Vlad's expression changed to something more akin to pride. Dani wondered if he was proud of her for noticing that the feeling wasn't hers. . . or proud of _himself_ for however he'd achieved making her feel that. "Sorry about that, my dear. As you've no doubt noticed, I've been tapping into your thoughts and memories and the tampering triggered intense paranoia as well as wild mood swings. I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't necessary to keep the hologram acting close enough to your personality to frame you." Vlad's face twisted into a more sour expression at that, probably thing about how it hadn't really made a difference when it came right down to it. Dani had gotten out of his trap anyway.

"And you needed to make that _thing_ act like Danny." Dani mumbled into her arm as she rested her chin on her knees and hugged them close.

Vlad smiled condescendingly at her. "What are you talking about? Just because you were imagining the paranoia doesn't mean they weren't _really_ out to get you."

"If they were really out to get me it wasn't paranoia. But I'm smarter than that, Vlad." Dani couldn't even find it in her to care about what she was saying. Even if the apathy wasn't real, even if it really _was_ just a side effect of the sedative, it was so much _easier_ than struggling against the inevitable like a salmon swimming upstream. Fighting like they did just made them easier for fishermen to catch.

_Oh, and it's better to just sit here and wait for them to get you? Fight it Danielle!_

"That's not Danny. . ." Dani whispered.

"Well, I can understand why you want to deny it. Betrayal is hard to accept. I know that better than anybody-"

"Nobody's ever betrayed you!" Dani snapped, anger starting to burn away the cold nothingness that had seeped into her soul.

_Yes. Hold onto that anger. Hold onto any feeling you can!_

"Actually, _you_ have." Vlad said softly.

"You betrayed me _first!_" Dani growled. "That's not betrayal, that's retaliation!"

_Is this all we are? Spite? Vindictiveness? Are we just trying to hurt the other person more than they've hurt us?_

"God, I don't even care who I hurt anymore!" Dani snapped. The raging fire filled her body now, turning the ice to white steam that flowed over her body and called out her ghost half. She closed her eyes and snapped them open a second later, feeling them glow with an acidic flare of power. "You know what? Fine! You wanna fight?" She leapt from her chair and summoned up a sphere of crackling green energy the size of her head. "You destroy what I love and I'll destroy what you love!"

Vlad stood suddenly, eyes going wide as he knocked over his chair in his haste. "What. . ?! You can't. . ! You shouldn't even be able to stand up after a dose that strong! How are you-"

"Father!" Danny burst into the room, flanked by his best friends. "I heard a crash!" Dani spun on them, eyes and aura blazing with green, and she growled as she built up the blast in her hand. The anger was running wild through her, taking away all sense and reason, and she moved without thinking as she sent the charge flying straight at her older brother.

"I'm! So! Sick! Of! Being! _Betrayed!_" Dani yelled.

Danny didn't even have time to dodge as her shot slammed into him and destroyed him completely. One second he was there and the next he was gone.

Dani didn't even slow down, sending shots tearing into Sam and Tucker, feeling the last fragments of ice between her and her anger melt away and leave her completely exposed in front of the blazing heat. The fire kept going, starting to consume her now that it was out of ice. She felt it tearing away at her personality, her feelings, and every little inconsequential memory. . .


	25. Chapter 25

One Inconsequential Memory

_ Danielle smiled up at Vlad, and he smiled back. That smile was the only light in the world she'd seen, and she would do anything to see it more often._

_ "Danielle? You alright?"_

_ Dani grinned even wider, tilting her head back to better see her father's face. He was so tall!_

_ "Better than alright! I've got a jumbo marshmallow!" Dani waved the sugary treat in front of his nose for more emphasis. She'd cooked it exactly the way she liked it, burnt black on the outside but gooey and sweet within. Vlad smiled again, but this time it didn't meet his eyes. "What? Don't you like marshmallows?" Dani wondered aloud, but Vlad just shook his head. He ruffled her loose hair with one hand._

_ "It's nothing." He said. But his eyes were still sad._

_ "No it's not! You look like you're going to cry or something!" Dani was exaggerating, but Vlad didn't need to know that._

_ "It's just that Jack Fenton used to like cooking his marshmallows that way. That's all."_

_ Dani stared into the fire for a moment, then looked back up at her father._

_ "You must have been really good friends if you remember something little like that." She said with a smile, but Vlad didn't return it this time._

_ "We. . . had a fight. I. . . I think it was his fault. But he's so naïve that there's no one to blame but me for letting it escalate this far." He said at last. Dani cocked her head to one side, wondering exactly what the problem was here._

_ "Just say you're sorry! I'm sure he'll forgive you. And you can be friends again after that!"_

_ Vlad's lack of a smile turned to an outright scowl. "Danielle, the world doesn't work that way."_

_ "But-"_

_ "There are some things no one can make better with two stupid words, Danielle! 'Sorry' is not enough to fix this!"_

_ Dani shook her head. Grown-ups. They made everything out to be more complicated than it was. "If you both want to be friends then nothing's stopping you! Just _be_ friends!"_

_ Vlad glowered at her. Then a small, unexpected smile slipped through. "I keep forgetting how much you don't know about the way the world works." He said with a little laugh. "You're so innocent. You think we'd all get along if we just _wanted_ it bad enough."_

_ "Yeah." Dani agreed. "And that means I'm smarter than you, if you don't believe that!"_

_ Vlad let his gaze wander from his daughter's face to the fire, but Dani had a feeling that he was seeing something very different than the flickering flames. "There was also a girl involved." He said quietly._

_ "Oooooh. . ." Dani said thoughtfully. Then, just as Vlad thought he might _finally_ have impressed upon her the _seriousness_ of the situation, she followed it up with, "In that case, the other guy will have to apologize too."_


	26. Chapter 26

**BVQA:** Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I thought I'd gotten this done _months_ ago. . .

What makes this worse is that it's the last chapter. I was trawling through my files, came across this, and figured I'd re-read it (because there's a one-shot collection that comes next in the series I've just hit upon some inspiration for) and I noticed the final paragraph was missing. . . meaning I never finished and uploaded it!

*whimpers*

So I'm putting this up now and I'm very, very, very-

**Dani:** GET ON WITH IT!

**BVQA:** _I'M SORRY, OKAY?!_

* * *

She woke up.

Well, "woke up" wasn't quite the right way to put it. She hadn't _been_ asleep, but she hadn't been awake either. She hadn't even been herself, and still wasn't. She'd been kind of drifting, lost within herself, but now she had hit the shore again and reopened her eyes on the world.

She had a _splitting_ headache.

She sat up with a groan and almost went right back down again, holding her throbbing head in both hands. She twisted her fingers through her bob of hair, feeling the individual strands start to cut into her fingers. She squinted into the gloom in in front of her, noticing that instead of the sepia haze you got inside of a building the cool, crisp blue permeating the air was that of the outdoors. Glancing up, she figured out why- someone had gone and blown the roof off of the room.

_I might have done that._ She thought. _Then again, I might not have. I don't particularly remember and I think I have a superpower hangover. Meh. Danny would have a field day with all the 'drunk on power' puns he could make._

_ Danny. . ._

She looked at the ground and noticed a scrap of white fabric. She picked it up, dropping one hand from her head, and traced her thumb around the red circle that peaked over the ragged edge, smearing it with half-dried ectoplasm and fresh blood.

_Don't think about it._

She wondered why there was music playing.

_"Today I'm gonna try a little harder, gonna make every minute last longer, gonna learn to forgive and forget, cause we don't have long, gonna make the most of it. Today I'm gonna love my enemies, reach out to somebody who needs me, make a change, make the world a better place, cause tomorrow could be one day too late. . ."_

She reached down, patting her pockets, and noticed she was wearing her jeans. So she was back in Fen- back in _human_ form.

_Don't give yourself a last name, because a last name means you need a first name and a first name means you're a person again and you can't handle being a person right now._

Locating her ipod in her back pocket she pulled it out and switched it off. Blessed silence flooded her ears and she felt her headache subside slightly. Her whole body ached, though, muscles she didn't even know she had were sore. Note to self; power surges due to powerful chemical cocktails, while fun at the time, result in a feeling like your insides were just put through a blender and poured back in your skin. Now _there_ was something they should bring up in high school anti-drug assemblies. . .

She stood up, starting to tumble before she caught herself on a burned, half-smashed armchair. Black spots ate up her vision and her head started swimming, but she just tilted her chin forwards and waited until the feeling passed. She carefully walked to the door, one foot in front of the other, and traced her way to the front door from there. Remarkably, the rest of the house was still intact, if empty. A sudden surge of worry ran through her, where was. . ?

She found him as she left the building, back in human form and sitting lethargically on the steps. He stared off absently into the distance, but she knew he was very much aware of her presence.

She closed her eyes.

Dani opened them, and it was Dani who now stood on the steps of Vlad's mansion, staring out into the dusky twilit sky. She must've been out a while, because instead of a wispy blue it looked like someone thrown purple powder over the horizonline, staining the daylight away. Zigzags of orange light were shot through the dark background like lightning bolts through storm clouds. Dani loved looking at the sky, seeing eternity reflect back at her, just as much as she loved sailing through the night as free as a shooting star.

But tonight she was mostly looking at the sky so she didn't have to look at the stooped figure sitting on the steps below her.

"Come to kick an old man while he's down?" Vlad asked, and he couldn't keep the exhaustion out of his voice. Dani realized with a start that he probably_ was_ getting too old for this arch-nemesis stuff. "I don't suppose my mansion is still intact, either, not with the amount of rage-based power you built up."

Dani shrugged, more to herself than Vlad, since she could tell he wasn't looking at her. "Just the one room."

"Well, thank goodness for small mercies. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to put my life back together, _again,_" Vlad said with a sigh, then stood in a way that Dani realized looked almost. . . painful.

"How long do we have to do this?" Dani blurted. Vlad glanced at her, looking too tired to be confused.

"Do _what?_" He snapped. "Do you have a point to get to or are you just intentionally standing between me and my front door?"

Dani shut her eyes, steeling herself for what she would have to do next. She gritted her teeth and glared down at her feet. God, the _things_ she had to do for humanity. . .

Dani stepped forwards, looked Vlad right in the eyes, and held out her hand.

Vlad flinched backwards slightly, twitching his fingers upwards as if to conjure a shield before realizing he wasn't being attacked. Dani scowled.

"You gonna shake, or are you going to stand between me and the way home all night?" Dani asked, scowl deepening. Vlad stared at her for a moment longer, then he took her hand in both of his and a slow smile spread across his face.

"I knew it! I knew you'd rejoin me eventually-" he began, but Dani cut him off as she yanked her hand out of his grip.

"I am _not_ joining you!" She snapped. Vlad hesitated, hands still outstretched.

"Then what. . ?" He trailed off. Dani huffed.

"How long do you think we can keep this up?" she asked, "How long until somebody _can't_ go home? Until someone isn't breathing? How long is it till then, huh?"

"I don't-"

"You don't know. Nobody knows, do they? Until it _happens._ Until someone goes too far, until something goes wrong, until there's some little accident and someone goes over the edge. We're ending this now, and you are going to apologize and get an apology in kind if I have to drag you by the ears. Got it?"

Vlad looked mildly shell-shocked. "Got it," he said softly. "That doesn't mean I agree, but I got it."

"Good," Dani held her hand out once more. They shook, and to the surprise of them both when Dani took her hand back she didn't even attempt to wipe it down the front of her shirt. "I don't forgive you," she said softly, "And I probably never will, but there's gotta be some other way."

Vlad searched her face, and she felt strangely self-conscious under that icy gaze. At first she thought he hadn't found what he was looking for because he turned away and started down the steps. Then he glanced over his shoulder at her and Dani caught the faintest of smiles. "You've got a one-month trial period. If I'm not satisfied, the truce goes off, got it? Now, if I were you I'd drag a brush through your hair before we drive over to Fentonworks- I haven't touched your room, your stuff should still be there if you didn't blow it up."

Dani felt that faint smile spreading over her own face, but she hid it as she turned away and dashed up the steps into Vlad's mansion. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her ipod and fished her earbuds from the other one. After a few moments of untangling, she slipped them in and hummed to herself as she ran through the winding hallways.

_"I'm staring out into the night trying to hide the pain. I'm going to the place where love and feeling good don't ever cost a thing, and the pain you feel's a different kind of pain. I'm going home to the place where I belong where your love has always been enough for me. I'm running from- you know I think you got me all wrong. I don't regret this life I chose for me, but these places and these faces are getting old so I'm going home. . ."_

It turned out, Vlad had been telling the truth. Her room, the place where she'd stayed when she was still living with Vlad, was still the same as it had been. The little room was tucked behind the library, and the best word for it? Cozy. Vlad had been under the unfortunate impression that girls liked pink when he'd done the original decorating, but Dani had done her absolute best to remedy that preliminary mistake. You could hardly see the walls anymore under the spread of Dumpty Humpty posters, and she'd sloshed around a bucket of neon green paint that got on the furniture as much as it did the floor and ceilings.

_Maybe I can come back on weekends. Alternate weekends. And Vlad has to leave first._

Rifling through her drawers, she found her beat-up and abused hairbrush exactly where she'd left it. She started to drag it through her hair before catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror and freezing in place.

"Sick!" She shouted, catching at her hair with her empty hand. She flinched as her sore muscles protested the sudden movement, but smiled nonetheless. The ends of her dark hair had been stained white, just as her ghostly form no doubt had black burned into it. She struck a pose and giggled at the absurdity of it all before snagging a dusty red cap from where it had been abandoned on one of her bedposts, jamming it down over her snarly hair. Then she was off like a flash.

_"I'm going home. . ."_

Vlad was already in his limo when Dani slid in shotgun. He started the car and pulled smoothly out of the driveway.

"Where's your chauffeur?" Dani asked, mostly to fill up space in the air.

"I always give my human assistants the day off when there's a chance of violence. You know that."

Dani shrugged. She didn't really know what to say anymore- she'd covered what she needed to and now the heavy atmosphere in the car was just getting to be too much. She thought back through the week and tried a question that she'd been wondering about for a while.

"What's a 'wandering princess'?" She asked.

Vlad briefly glanced at her before looking back to the road and carefully turning a corner. "It's a legendary figure from the lore of the Far Frozen, almost as infamous as the so-called 'great one'. It tells of a mystical heroine who traverses the earth and ghost zone for a time immeasurable, spreading both peace and justice in her wake. She will never find a true home, but in exchange she will find all the qualities of home in every place she looks. She's actually one of the more popular figures in their lore. Why do you ask?"

Dani had a feeling he already knew, but replied anyway with the answer he was expecting. "No reason. Just. . . the name came up."

"Ah," Vlad said, and the rest of the drive passed in silence. Dani shut her eyes for what felt like a second, but opened them when Vlad's words startled her out of her doze. "We're here."

Dani grinned, then stared out the window as the front door banged open and Danny- yes, Danny- dashed towards the car, Sam and Tucker hot on his heels. Dani felt a shard of ice in her chest melt and float away, letting her breathe properly for the first time since she'd picked up that scrap of bloodstained fabric. She'd been scared, so scared that maybe. . .

No. She'd known it wasn't him. . . hadn't she?

"Just out of curiosity, how did you figure it out?" Vlad asked flatly as Dani flung the car door open. She froze, fingers tracing over the handle. How _had_ she known? How could she explain that sense of right and wrong and alien and friend, all at the same time?

She closed her hand over the pendant hanging around her neck and went with the simplest answer.

"He didn't slam the door."

And then she was washed over in a tide of family, and there were hugs, and shouting and affectionate noogies.

"Dani! I thought-"

"Gone for good, but-"

"Little sis! Knew you'd-"

"_Dani!"_

Sid and Youngblood tackled her to the tarmac, and the sting in Dani's back was ignored in favor of the chilly arms wrapped around her.

"Hey! That's my sister!" Danny snapped, but he was smiling. "You don't get to steal her out of the group hug!"

"Oh hush." Youngblood stuck his tongue out at Danny, but Sid blushed and let Dani go. She sat up and looked at him questioningly, but with a smile.

"I apologize for my less than chivalrous actions, but I was overcome by joy when you were alright-" Dani cut him off by jumping to her feet (jolting Youngblood to his feet as well) and dragging him to the center of the group cluster.

"Knock it off, Sid!" She teased.

"Wha. . . I wanted to help you up!" He protested weakly.

Dani rolled her eyes playfully. "Chivalry's dead," she reminded him.

"So am I."

The front door banged again and then there were parents, and an older sister, and joy and happiness and-

Dani could see Vlad staring very hard at the steering wheel as he made to start the limo.

_Oh no he doesn't._ Dani thought.

"Come on, Vlad!" She called, then dragged him out of the car by his wrist.

"Danielle, this isn't wise-" He was cut off as Jack pulled him into a hug.

"V-man! You know what, I thought you wouldn't want to show after what happened!" Jack held Vlad out at arms length in a way that reminded Dani of her older brother and Tucker, only tucker had never looked so. . . awkward while it was happening. Or stared at the ground quite so much.

Dani coughed.

Vlad nearly flinched.

"Jack, I ah. . . I'm sorry," he glanced at Dani as he said it as if waiting for a sarcastic comment. Dani just smiled and tried to get her hair out of Youngblood's grip- where had her cap gone?

"Sorry? Oh, about the lawsuit? No worries, V-man! All's forgiven! If I had to give up a little girl as special as Dani here I wouldn't want to either! For what it's worth, I'm sorry too." He pulled Vlad back into a bone-crushing hug, but the moment Vlad wasn't looking directly at him his obliviously cheerful smile slipped a tiny amount and Dani wondered if he knew what the two "old friends" were _really_ apologizing about.

In the back of Dani's mind, a little girl smiled smugly and shoved a blackened marshmallow into her mouth.

"Do you really think that's a good idea? Vlad could be up to something." Danny muttered in Dani's ear. Dani shrugged, shaking her head.

"He's always up to something, but that doesn't mean we can't try, right?"

Dani smirked, ruffling her hair. "You are wise beyond your years, grasshopper," he said in his very best Yoda voice.

"Yoda doesn't talk like that, smart one," and so saying, she pulled her older brother close and buried her face in the front of his soft red-and-white t-shirt. "I'm really glad you're not dead." She murmured.

"I'm. . . glad I'm not dead too?" It was a question. "What're you talking ab. . . oh, never mind. I'm happy you're back."

"Me too." Dani whispered.

"Ghost at twelve-o-clock! Or. . . possibly half-past five. . . Maddie, what time is it?!" Jack shouted, and every half ghost in the vicinity settled into a discrete fighting stance. Rather than an enemy, however, a pearly-haired ghost in a black jumpsuit tumbled out of the sky and landed a few yards from the group.

"Whoops." Danny muttered, blushing slightly as he relaxed. "Forgot I sent a duplicate out to look for you. My bad."

Dani rolled her eyes and shoved him, awkward sibling hug now officially over. "Stupid-head! Go take care of that!" She teased. Then she felt fingers in her hair, and she rolled her eyes. Youngblood again! "If you don't quit that so help me God I will-" Dani turned and found, rather than Youngblood, a faintly bemused Jazz.

"I was just checking out your new hairstyle, sis. No need to bite my head off."

Dani blushed. "Uh, sorry! Youngblood's been messing up my hair for the past ten minutes."

"Hmm," Jazz mused with a smile, glancing over to where 'Phantom' Danny was having a seemingly awkward conversation with Jack. "Speaking of ghosts, think _he'll_ ever come clean about the whole ghost thing?"

"So, I'm glad my little sis is safe, Dad- uh, Jack," Phantom said, rubbing his elbow awkwardly.

"Me too, son- uh, Phantom." Jack said, looking everywhere but at the 'ghost' boy in front of him.

Dani smirked. "Do you really think he has to?"

"Point taken."

"Anyone up for cake?" Maddie called from the house. "I whipped it up for when Dani got back!"

"You don't even have to ask, Mrs. F!" Tucker called, thinking with his stomach again. "I call first slice!"

"Not if I get there first!" Dani transformed in a flash of light and lifted off the ground, flying towards the front door.

"No fair! That's cheating!" She heard behind her, and soon she was racing forwards with her huge, dysfunctional family hot on her heels.

And, without anyone noticing, her ipod clicked to the last song on the list.

_"Oh, when I look back now, that summer seemed to last forever and if I had the choice, yeah, I'd always wanna be there._

_ "Those were the best days of my life. . ."_

**The End**


End file.
